Bulacan eyes mobile water treatment plant

Botolan, Zambales — The Department of Science and Technology is set to provide a Mobile Water Treatment Plant to the Bulacan Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.

According to DoST provincial director Angelita Parungao, the project has an allotted budget of P3 million under the Programang Community Empowerment through Science and Technology.

She added that the MWTP can treat water sourced from flood, from underground, and rain to make it into potable drinking water. She said that it can treat 500 liters of water in an hour.

The MWTP sits atop a fabricated four-wheeler trailer designed to be hauled by a four-wheel light vehicle.

The DoST showed the detailed features and components of the MWTP at the Science Centrum and Product Bazaar during the Regional Science, Technology and Innovation Week here in Botolan.

Some of the major components of the MWTP are the media filtration system, water softening system, ultrafiltration system, reverse osmosis system, and post disinfection and filtration system.

The media filtration system removes all hard objects mixed in with the water such as rocks, iron, chlorine and other organic materials while the water softening system removes the hardness-causing calcium and magnesium materials from the water via an ion exchange process. The system softens the water for drinking.

Meantime, the ultrafiltration uses pressure on the water to destroy semi-permeable membrane of dirty water mixed in with the water while the reverse osmosis system purifies the quality of water while the post disinfection and filtration system stop the entry of dirt on the purified water and remove any materials foreign to the water.

The MWTP has its own supply of electricity coming from a generator set if it gets taken to a remote area where the electricity lines are not available during a calamity. It can also be connected to a local power provider or power distribution utility if there is electricity in the area.

PDRRMO head Manuel Lukban said that having an MWTP is a big help by the national government through the efforts of the DoST. He added that the MWTP will help ensure that potable drinking water will be available to those affected by calamities.