Potable water now available in Barili with MCWD’s mobile filter plant

Rep. Pablo John Garcia (third, from left) drinks water from the Mobile Siphon Tank  (2nd photo) deployed by the Metropolitan Cebu Water District in Barili. With him are businessman Jay Ruiz and daughter Jayra Ruiz. (Photo courtesy of Cong. Pablo John Garcia)
Rep. Pablo John Garcia (third, from left) drinks water from the Mobile Siphon Tank (2nd photo) deployed by the Metropolitan Cebu Water District in Barili. With him are businessman Jay Ruiz and daughter Jayra Ruiz. (Photo courtesy of Cong. Pablo John Garcia)

Even with the challenges it is facing after Typhoon Odette hit Cebu, the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) did not hesitate to extend help to Barili town when Rep. Pablo John Garcia called for assistance in addressing the water supply problem of the municipality.

On December 27, MCWD deployed its Mobile Siphon Tank (MST) to Barili, one of the areas hardest hit by the typhoon last December 16.

This was in response to the request of Cong. Garcia, representative of Cebu’s third district where Barili belongs.

“With your equipment, we will be able to address one of the most pressing needs not only of Barili, but also of neighboring towns in the district like Aloguinsan and Pinamungajan, as well as those in the seventh district starting with Dumanjug,” Cong. Garcia’s request stated.

In a meeting with Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and MCWD officials, the governor also asked the water district to grant the request of the third district.

MCWD Acting General Manager Stephen Yee then ordered the MCWD Laboratory personnel to check the river in Barili if the raw water quality can be treated and purified using the MST.

Water Quality Division head Helen Aragones said since the raw water quality of the river in Barangay Campangga in Barili passed the test, they immediately deployed the truck-mounted MST.

“Daghang salamat, MCWD pinaagi sa ilang Chairman Joey Daluz sa paspas nga pagtubag sa hangyo namo ni Gov. Gwen Garcia ug sa One Cebu aron masolbad dayon ning kinadak-an nga suliran sa Barili karong panahona,” Cong. Garcia said in his Facebook page.

The truck-mounted MST which is worth about P15 million was donated to MCWD by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 2016.

Aragones sad it can produce three cubic meters of clean and drinking water per hour or 72 cubic meters per day. One cubic meter is around 53 containers of a 5-gallon bottled water.

An MST is a state-of-the-art equipment developed and produced by Nihon Genryo Co. Ltd. of Japan and has its own generator set.

It has a submersible pump used to siphon water from the river or any surface water sources to a water bladder or big plastic tanks.

Raw water is stored in the first water bladder or plastic tank. It is then mixed with polyaluminum chloride, which is used to remove turbidity. Then, liquid chlorine or sodium hypochlorite, a disinfecting agent, is added using an electromagnetic pump before it goes to the filter which uses a special type of sand.

From the filter, the purified and potable water goes to the second water bladder and is stored as backwash water. This is used to clean the sand in the filter.

Backwashing or cleaning the filter is usually done once a day for about seven minutes.

Once the second tank is filled, the purified water automatically goes to the third tank which has four faucets that the residents can use.

In 2013 when Super Typhoon Yolanda hit the northern part of Cebu, JICA and MCWD brought a stationary MST to Daanbantayan. (PR)

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