WATER TREATMENT FACILITY IN BARANGAY PASIL,

CEBU CITY

A Technical Report Presented to the Faculty of the University of Cebu -

Main Campus and Professor Gianne Rensen V. Antonio

by

Alcover, J-lock
Guiao, Jeaneva Marie
Moral, John Miko
Navales, Jomhar
Yu, Francis Keru

October 15, 2018

Water Treatment Facility in Barangay Pasil, Cebu City

Introduction

The researchers aim to propose a water treatment facility for Barangay

Pasil, Cebu City Philippines. According to residents of the area, “The reason

for the foul smell in the area is due to human and septic tank wastages being

dumped in the river illegally (Sunstar, 2014)." The pollution caused the

people to complain about their water sources. Cleaning the waters in Pasil

will not just make the place look more pleasing, but it will make the locals

relieve their suffering.

Water treatment facilities are vital for many countries. Countries like

Singapore, Australia and Namibia, have already been using recycled water

for drinking (Cho, 2011). "Compared to these countries the Philippines had a

lot of rivers that used to have clean water while the prior countries didn’t'

have drinkable water but the water treatment facilities made it so that they

have fresh water. Namibia, the aridest country in southern Africa has been

drinking recycled water since 1969. Recycled water fuelled 35% of her

water needs (Cho, 2011)." The water treatment facilities have proved

significant for these countries and it will be essential for Pasil.

The wastes in Pasil enlarge its crime rate in the community and health

deficiency caused by cross contamination. "Residents have been infected

respiratory tract illnesses and other respiratory problems due to the

unhygienic nature of the river (Sunstar, 2014)." According to the people of

Pasil, this was because of people illegally dumping human and septic tank

waste. According to Erich Muehlegger from the University of California,

they found that violent crime increases by 2.2% downwind from areas with

great pollution (Worley 2015) because it is assumed that higher pollution

results to difficulties in educational attainment, the stereotype of Pasil being

dirty and dangerous could be well linked to each other.

The Philippines made some effort in making water treatment facilities

but it is not enough. “Only 10% of wastewater is treated while 58% of

groundwater is contaminated (Claudio, 2015)." The Philippines used to have

a lot of fresh water, but at present, it is mostly undrinkable because of

mismanagement of placing their garbage “Only 5% of the population uses

sewer network while the rest connect their toilet to Septic Tanks. (Claudio,

2015)", that is why there are a lot of septic tank wastes in the Philippines. All

in all the lack of water treatment facilities and the massive septic tank wastes

are just too big of a gap so making a water treatment facility can help ease

Pasil.

The writers’ aim in this research proposal – Water Treatment Facility in

Barangay Pasil, Cebu City, is to help solve and ease the problem of water

contamination by conducting surveys and observations to the people of

Barangay Pasil by proposing water treatment facilities. Having clean and

safe water sources can be of great help in solving problems in the

community.

Methods

The researchers will use descriptive thesis design that is used to obtain

formation concerning the phenomena and to describe “what exists”

concerning the environment or conditions in a situation (USC, 2018). With

this type of design, the researchers can merely survey in Pasil, Cebu City
and focus more on the responses of the respondents where the researchers

can gather the data, for the reason that experiments and other forms of

gathering data are very time-consuming.

According to the Philippine Atlas, “The total population of Pasil as of

2015 is 8, 593 where two persons increase from the 2010 census. Pasil is

located at coordinates 10.2906. “Pasil has 2, 005 households and 8, 582

people, that is around four people in a household (PSA, 2013).” “The largest

fish market (Marketman et al., 2008).” Since it has a large fish market, the

researchers are interested in making sure that the people in Barangay Pasil

have access to clean water as well as the increasing quality of fish in the

market as being one of the core suppliers of fishes in Cebu City.

Results and Discussion

The survey was conducted at Barangay Pasil last September 15, 2018, at

12:30 in the afternoon; four local interviewers were employed to preside

over the study. At each household, a questionnaire was administered to

determine the quality of household water that was being consumed in the

people of Barangay Pasil and to describe water use and treatment practices

at the household level, user satisfaction, and perception of water quality by

consumers.

In the survey we conducted in Barangay Pasil, from the first question in

the survey questionnaire; 30 out of 30 households responded that they don’t

have any means of purification or treatment for their water sources.

According to All about filters, “Most of the population in Africa rely on

surface water instead of groundwater in everything they do, and it is costly

to construct an infrastructure to bring fresh water. (All-about-Waters- filters,

2018)". Just like Africa, people in Pasil rely on surface water in everything

they do however since it is expensive to make there have not been any

efforts by the government to make a big water filtration system near the

waters of Pasil.

The researchers believe that the government should start efforts in

making a water treatment facility. According to Sunstar: "The construction

of the new Pasil-Suba Fish Market will start next month, said Rep. Rodrigo

Abellanosa (Sunstar, September 3, 2018)". The researchers believe that this

will help attract more people in Pasil because Pasil has been stereotyped as a

dangerous place to be however the researchers believe that the government

should also focus about the problems of water pollution of Pasil to uplift the

lives of its people rather than increase tourism in the area

Out of the 30 households that do not have a water purification system,

83% of them (25 families) considered having a water filtration system.

“About 360 persons per one lakh die in India and over 50% patients getting
admitted in hospitals are patients of water-borne diseases (Duggal)(n.d)”

another article states that residents of Pasil had been infected with

respiratory tract illnesses, and other respiratory problems (Sunstar,2014) just

like other places who live near polluted bodies of water in Pasil, it is unusual

for someone not to be affected by water-borne diseases.

Just as what the researchers stated, the government should prioritize on

the welfare of its citizens rather than prioritizing on tourism. And since

water-borne diseases is very common, it is more than enough of a reason to

filter the waters especially in Pasil, since water is one of the most important

components for their livelihood and Pasil, being as one of the main sources

of fishes in Cebu City.

For the third question in the survey questionnaire; different water

filtrations such as: Ceramic Filtration, Carbon Filtration, UV Light

Filtration, Solar Water Filtration, Reverse Osmosis, Metallic Alloy, Chlorine

Tablets, and Sand Filters was introduced. The respondents were asked if any

of the stated filtrations were familiar to them; and out of the mentioned

water filtrations, Chlorine Tablets is the most common filtration and UV

Light Filtration is the least common.

“Two million children die because of diarrhea every year, and

contaminated water is often to blame. Treating water with chlorine could

substantially reduce this toll (Kremer et al.)” Chlorine tablets is probably the

simplest way of water purification. It merely involves putting chlorine

tablets into the water in definite quantities. IPA also states that there has been

a chlorine tablet dispenser given for free somewhere in Kenya (Kremer et

al.) there has not been a chlorine tablet dispenser in Pasil, but this will

definitely help the community where a huge machine for water filtration is

not necessary.

The researchers believe that water chlorine tablets dispensers spread

within the area will be a huge step to fight against water pollution it will not

remove the trashes per say but it will reduce the amount of water-borne

disease-related illnesses within Pasil. It will not cost much compared to the

big filtration machines in most developed countries, but the researchers

believe that chlorine tablets will positively uplift the lives of the people in

Pasil.

The respondents were inquired to rate certain qualities such as Safety,

Taste, Size/Weight, Can Operate Without Electricity, Price for the water

filtration, and certification in terms of importance in a water filtration

system; out of the listed qualities, Safety (83%) is the most significant factor

that the water filtration should acquire; next is the Operation without the use

of electricity (81%), and the least important factor is the Taste (55%).
Most people are concerned about the safety according to the Water Quality

and Health Council: The allowable chlorine levels in drinking water (up to 4

parts per million) pose “no known or expected health risk [including] an

adequate margin of safety (Wiant, 2010) this goes for sure that if you put

chlorine in moderation it will not post any health risks.

The researchers believe that Chlorine tablet dispensers is a vast investment

to improve Pasil because Chlorine tablets for drinking water are safe if taken

in regular quantities just like many things that become toxic. Chlorine will

harm you if you intake a lot, however if taken in moderation there had been

no health risks.

In the question, under which of the following scenarios would the

respondents use a water filtration system, out of 29 respondents, a majority

of the respondents, 55% (16) responded Primary Home usage, 36% (9)

responded usage for Emergency Preparedness.

"In Africa, most of the population rely on surface water instead of

groundwater for everything they do (All-about-Waters-filters, 2018)" same

goes for Pasil. In their household, the water they use came from surface

water so clean water is a necessity for the people in Pasil since they rely on

their body of water for their livelihood

The researchers believe that the people in Pasil should have an access to
clean water even though chlorine tablet is a hassle to purchase every now

and then, but it is a necessity in order to attain clean water. In the future,

when the government has allotted funds to make a machine or water purifier

that would benefit the people of Pasil as well as acquire clean water at more

affordable prices.

According to the chart 28% of the respondents would pay Php20,

000.00assuming that they should pick a price on how much a water

treatment facility (with the traits from the question) will cost in their

household regardless if it is cheap or not, sponsored or working for

themselves this is what they think it would cost without the cheapness bias.

According to Jennifer Pak: “A Canadian start-up company bottling fresh

air from the Rocky Mountains has seen sales to China soar because of rising

pollution levels (Jennifer Pak,2018- Shenzhen, China)”. Because of air

pollution, people are paying something that is meant to be for free. The

researchers hope is that the private businesses will not take advantage of the

state Pasil is at.

The researchers believe that the people in Pasil should have access to

clean water, the government did not really focus on this yet, but in doing so,

it would help the people in Pasil as well as set a positive image on the place

specially it has one of the biggest fish markets in the Visayas region the
appearance of clean water and clean fish.

According to the tally, 18 persons out of 30 respondents say that they are

interested in purchasing a water filtration system for themselves.

According to Natia Shakiah: “Citizens make the future of the country.

Many things depend on us, citizens. In my mind, every citizen can do

something useful for the development of the country (Shakiah, 2016)".

People want to have the initiative to make things better if the government is

not doing anything because in the end, it is the citizens that make up most of

the country.

The researchers believe that the residents of Pasil can make a change

without the government like some private individuals can start sponsoring

people and show the government that in a small scale something big could

change so it is the government initiative if they should increase the scale of

water treatment in Pasil for the benefits of the residents as well as

developing the positive perception of Pasil.

According to the chart, 50% of the respondents would sponsor a water

treatment facility in the developing world while the other 50% do not want

to sponsor someone in the developing world.

According to Adrieanna G. Norse: “There comes the point in time where

you have to be selfish, as much as I hate admitting this; it's true. (Norse,
2017)". Some people want to put themselves first that doesn’t mean they are

selfish, but they want to ensure themselves before they help other people

while some people put others first because they enjoy pleasure of others than

themselves.

Some people just want to help despite their situation while others want to

make sure they are well stable before serving others. The researchers do not

believe on is better than the other it just all depends how people see it but

people should have a positive reaction to whatever the people of Pasil want.

According to the chart, 83% of the respondents believe that the water

treatment facility will have a positive effect in the community, while the

17% believe that water treatment is not the main issue for the problems in

Pasil.

According to the Inquirer: "The EMB-7 also raised water pollution alert

in two rivers, Butuanon River in Mandaue City and Guadalupe River in

Cebu City. Both rivers have long been declared biologically dead waterways

that cannot support life. (Rosell, 2012)". Other places in Cebu have dead

waterways unlike these two rivers in Pasil is an integral part of Pasil not just

people rely on it as the source of water but also source of fish, since Pasil

has one of the biggest fish markets in Cebu.

The researchers believe that the preservation of Pasil waterways is vital,

not just the commercial fishing in the province of Cebu, but it is also what

the people of Pasil mainly use for their water necessities.

The researchers recommend putting chlorine dispensers in certain

sections of Pasil that is near a body of water so that once they retrieve water,

they can immediately clean the water by placing chlorine tablets in their

water buckets or any other instrument for recovering water. According to

IPA: “As of April 2014 over 1.8 million people were being served by

chlorine dispensers (Kremer et al., 2018)”. There have been many lives that

are being uplifted with this method, there has been no known methods to

combat water pollution in Pasil the researchers recommend the “Water

Chlorine Dispenser Method”.

In this study, Water Treatment Facility in Barangay Pasil, Cebu City the

researchers observed that one of the main factors in the increasing crime rate

of a community comes from the quality and sanitation of the basic needs a

person intakes into his/her body system. The researchers concluded that

providing a water purification system or water treatment facility in the

Barangay may be of good help to ease one of the main problems in the

community.

Education both to the public and to operators should be provided about

the risks associated with drinking water directly or untreated from the
Barangay Pasil and community water sources. Although these waters may be

less turbid and therefore appear “cleaner” to some residents than water from

the Barangay Pasil, the final water should be treated to the same level of

quality as other source waters and should not be consumed in the body

directly.

Reference

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The Septic Tank; Environmental Health Practitioner Manual: A Resource

Manual for Environmental Health Practitioner, Australia

2 Tjihenuna, Theresia (October 2010). The Namibian: Recycled Water

Is The Future, Namibia, Africa

3 Herrnstadt, Evan et al. (November 2016). Air Pollution as a Cause of

Violent Crime: Evidence from Los Angeles and Chicago

4 Shull, Adam (2012). The Design and Creation of a Portable Water

Purification System

5 Linden, Guyana (December 2007). Household Water Use and Health

Survey for the Water Safety Plan, Altlanta, U.S.

6 Sagara, Junko (June 2000). Study of Filtration for Point-of-Use

Drinking Water Treatment in Nepal, Massachusettes

7 Claudio, Lormelyn E. (April 2015). Wastewater Management in the

Philippines, Philippines

8 Kaufmann, Daniel (September 2016). Mobile Drinking Water

Purification for Developing Countries, Uganda

9 Lindastcyr (March 2012). World Water Day: 10 Places Most in Need

of Clean Water

10 Instituto Nacional De Estadistica (2018). Survey on Water Supply and

Sewerage, Spain