CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Gone are the days when buying water in bottles was a joke, because water that flowed from faucets and pumps was potable.
You have to move to remote and unblemished provincial villages to again make a joke of it. In urbanized towns, it’s a flourishing business to sell purified water. Considering how basic the commodity is, the need can dent on meagre income.
To the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), this no longer need be the case. It has developed a ceramic-based water filter that can remove contaminants in drinking water and has been described as “perfect for home use.”
The DOST regional offi ce here said it has developed at least two types of ceramic filters. One has the capacity to filter 6.5 liters and another 1.5 liters at any time.
“The filter is made from red clay and we added ‘nano’ which is a very, very small anti-microbial agent that can eliminate water-borne micoorganisms,” said DOST supervising science research specialist Josefi na Celorico. The ceramic filter is lodged in a plastic container with a faucet at the bottom for collection of the filtered water.
The flow rate is two to three liters per hour and can purify tap, deep well, and raw water from ponds and springs.
“The ceramic filters are easy to install and maintain and are reasonably priced,” she said. Celorico said the production cost per piece range from P80 to P190 depending on the model, noting that water filtered from the ceramic filters passed the Philippine National Standard for drinking water in tests on Coliform and Escherichia coli, which are the most common water-borne disease-causing microorganisms.
She also noted that the ceramic filters had also undergone field testing at National Housing Authority households. The DOST is now promoting the use of the ceramic filters nationwide. In Central Luzon, the DOST regional office based in this city conducted training on how to produce the filter using clay from Tarlac.
