Typhoon Haiyan had caused huge disasters that the
Philippines never experienced before. It caused not just psychological and
emotional problems but most especially, it also hindered people from affected
areas to live a normal life again. The typhoon destroyed their houses, lands,
and sources of income. What bothered the government, different organizations,
and other people was it damaged the victims’ sources of food and water. We all
know that food and water are basic necessities of life. People need it to function
properly. People need it to live and survive.
Many people and organizations have donated these basic
necessities to the victims of the said typhoon. A lot did numerous fund-raising
projects for them to help. As I read the news last December 5, 2013, I
realized that these help cannot last for a long period of time. We all have to keep
in mind that these are just for the relief of the victims. Someday all these
help will be cut short and eventually will be gone. The victims have to stand
up on their own and move on from what happened. Hence, the people also need
help that could last for a long time and the potable water that Manila Water brought
is a good example. Instead of donating tons and tons of clean and drinking
water for the victims, Manila Water introduced a new technology to help them
acquire water on their vicinity. It is called Manila Water Co.’s mobile
treatment plant (MTP). This technologically advanced equipment is able to
transform any type of raw water — whether floodwater, river water or even
seawater — into potable drinking water for the people who need it most (The
Philippine Star, Dec 2013). It is expected to make the dirty water available to
the areas affected become efficient for the people. Through this technology,
people could turn their dirty water into safe water that they can use for their
daily routines. Manila Water had delivered its treatment plan to the Visayas
region, specifically to Bantayan, Cebu, and Bohol. It also sent about eight to 10 of its personnel, including a
chemist, an operator, a technician, a driver, and a security, to operate and
man the MTP operations and ensure that potable water is provided to residents
of calamity-stricken areas (The Philippine Star, Dec 2013).
Manila Water Co.’s mobile treatment plant is able to transform any type of raw water — floodwater, river water or even seawater — into potable drinking water. (Adapted from The Philippine Star, December 2013)
The principle behind this treatment plant is the reverse
osmosis system which has the ability to clean common contaminants present in
raw water, such as pathogenic bacteria, viruses, microorganisms, parasites, and
solids like salts and hardness present in seawater. It is a process that
involves the de-mineralization or de-ionization of water by pushing it under
pressure through a semi-permeable reverse osmosis membrane, which allows the
passage of water molecules but not the majority of dissolved solids and other
contaminants like dissolved salts, organics, bacteria, and pyrogens (The
Philippine Star, Dec 2013).
Because of this news, I remember a discussion from one of
our STS lecturers and scientist, Dr. David. He introduced to us one of his inventions which
also aims to make contaminated water useful. The principle behind his invention was that
the contaminated water will be cleaned by the natural resources available such
as rocks, plants, charcoal and sand. Dr. David was inspired by the mangrove
areas we have in our country as this invention came into existence. Mangroves exist to clean up the world and by
that, as mentioned on his discussion, he believed that we can create our own
mangroves and put them in areas needed. Hence, he was able to invent something
that could substantiate this principle. He first made four stations out of
empty bottles where water will pass through. Each station has plants, rocks,
charcoal and sand to filter the water. After passing through them, the water
became clearer and cleaner. Dr. David hence made a bigger version of this and
publicized it.
The two inventions have a similar goal, and that is, to make
dirty water (and useless as what people think of them) become clean and useful.
Inventions, as what Dr. David also stated, arise from ideas that we think of to
solve our problems. Typhoon Haiyan was one of the problems of the country today
that we must face together. The Philippines may not have a lot of technologies
and money to make many but it has lots of human and natural resources that is
of great help in solving its problems. Such inventions are glimpses of hope
that someday all these problems will be solved. We just have to value what we
have and make the most out of them and stay positive of the things coming our
way.
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