PPP potable bulk water

plant opens in Trinidad

TRINIDAD, Bohol, March 1 (PIA) – The first of Bohol’s public and private partnership in (PPP) an infrastructure project that could boost the public health and safety gets commissioned today, in barangay Hinlayagan Ilaud, as a private company and the local government unit here partnered to develop a one million liters a day water treatment plant for the town.

No less than Department of Health (DOH) secretary Teodoro J. Herbosa who joined Bishop Alberto Uy, and the private company’s officers, in blessing and inaugurating the facility which not only serves Trinidad, has the expansion capacity to serve nearby communities of San Miguel, Ubay, Bien Unido and Talibon.

“This is a PPP project between the LGU which has entered into an agreement for bulk water potable supply using the country’s newly signed PPP Code or Republic Act No 11966,” explained Trinidad Mayor and lawyer Roberto Cajes, during the blessing and inauguration program.

Part of the agreements are for the private company to build a one million liter per day water treatment plant for distribution to Trinidad, to build two more 100 cubic meter water tanks and to lay 8 kilometers of pipelines at no expense to the Trinidad LGU, Cajes continued.

The project would help Trinidad gain access to clean, safe drinking water, without any burden to the LGU, continue building two more storage water tanks and showcase the company’s capacity for water service provision in bulk water, as the company is also capable of waste water treatment and build health and environmental sustainability, added private company president Ralph B. Lim.

The facility uses a 7 step water treatment process using the modular hybrid design to be flexible enough to allow adjustments in any of the seven steps used in the process, aiming for water quality that passes through the Philippine National Standards for potable drinking water.

The facility also follows the Water Quality Guidelines and General Effluents Standards, plant manager and engineer Alfredo Calinawan said.

The private company draws water from Hinlayagan River of the upper tributary of the Ipil River in the town, and hopes to build more water storage open-water tanks, to be able to serve more in this side of Bohol.

“We are using the 7-step process to make sure there is no bacteria left in the product, even as a monitoring of the residual chlorination is constantly done in the pipelines, bringing it down to a minimum of 0.5,” plant engineer and manager Alfredo Calinawan also explained.

Keynote speaker and DOH Secretary Herbosa hailed the project as one of the first projects with this kind of model in providing potable and safe drinking water. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

DOH Secretary Ted Herbosa joins Mayor Roberto Cajes with Vice Mayor Ferdinand de Erio and DOH regional Director Jaime Bernadas cut the ceremonial ribbon and turned on the water valves which started water flowing to the huge tanks, ready for distribution. (PIABohol)