A CEBU-based water supplier is proposing to local government units in Luzon a project to tap water in polluted Pasig and Wawa rivers for industrial use.

Pilipinas Water Resources Inc. (PWRI) president Antonio P. Tompar said the M. Lhuillier-led company can use its own technology to solve water shortages, especially in Metro Manila.

PWRI presented the concept, which aims to solve both the pollution and water-supply issues hounding the country, during the National River Summit held in Manila last month.

The company aimed to treat the polluted water from the rivers and produce nonpotable but clear and sanitized water for industries and households.

Tompar said industries need only nonpotable water for their operation, such as cleaning and irrigation, among others.

PWR I will also construct a desalination plant that will treat Wawa River in Montalban, Rizal.

Tompar said that as long as there are rivers in the Philippines, there is no such thing as water crisis.

“We at PWRI believe that the country will never run out of water supply because of the new technologies such as seawater desalination and water treatments that will recycle wastewater to clean and potable drinking water. We are using these technologies to help the government provide water to remote communities that could not be served by the water districts,” he said.

“The cost of desalinating water nowadays is not as prohibitive as five years ago. We can now afford to desalinate water,” he said.

PWRI refuted the result of the study conducted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) that said the Philippines is facing a water crisis.

In its publication, Asian Water Development Outlook 2007, the ADB warned that water availability in the country could be “unsatisfactory” in eight of its 19 major river basins and in major cities before 2025.

“Water quality is poorest in urban areas, the main sources of pollution being untreated discharges of industrial and municipal wastewater,” the ADB report read.

Tompar said PWRI’s bulk-water supply projects, which make use of either water-desalination technology or the clarification, filtration and disinfection system, have proven otherwise the ADB’s finding.

PWRI recently inaugurated its P26-million project in Rio Tuba, Bataraza in southern Palawan, which includes installation of pipes. It is the first barangay water-treatment plant in the province.

The system is a 20-year cooperation project between PWRI and the municipality of Bataraza to serve more than 5,000 households in the town.

PWRI, an alliance between M. Lhuillier and Mactan Rock Industries Inc., was formed initially to challenge Manila Water in its unsolicited P2-billion Carmen Bulk Water Supply Project proposal to the Metropolitan Cebu Water District.

Mactan Rock has installed the first-ever commercial saltwater desalination plant in Southeast Asia at the Shangri-La’s Mactan Island Resort and Spa in the early 1990s.

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A CEBU-based water supplier is proposing to local government units in Luzon a project to tap water in polluted Pasig and Wawa rivers for industrial use.