By DANNY O SAGUN
PIA Dagupan Infocenter

INSTEAD of spending P25 to P50 for a five-gallon (20 liters) of drinking water, why not just use “hyposol” to treat or disinfect water from even a shallow source. For that five-gallon measure, you’ll be shelling out only the equivalent of 89 centavos.

Health authorities stressed this fact during the launching of the Safe Water System (SWS) project Wednesday at the Lenox Hotel in Dagupan City where representatives of government and non-government groups vowed to work for providing safe drinking water to households in Region 1 particularly those affected by gastroenteritis and cholera like in Malasiqui and Bugallon, this province.

Hyposol is 1.25 percent sodium hypochlorite solution. As a water disinfectant, it improves the quality of water and prevents diseases like diarrhea. It can be used to disinfect water drawn from unsafe sources like creeks, shallow tube wells and rivers.

Dr. Eduardo Janairo, health regional director, said that the cases of acute gastroentirits and particularly cholera in some towns in Pangasinan and in La Union were partly attributed to unsafe drinking water. He noted that some wells were very near pig pens and even toilets.

Hyposol, which is manufactured by Long Live Pharma, a Dagupan-based company represented by Racky Doctor, costs only P25 for one plastic bottle (100 ml). It can treat 28 Gerry cans (5-gallon/20-liter container) which may be good for one and a half month for a mid-size family. Hyposol-treated water is free from E. coli and other bacteria and is potable just 30 minutes after application of the solution.

The Hyposol solution will soon be commercially available in its yet exclusive brand name, Waterine, according to Doctor.

A family may just spend P16 to treat 18 Gerry cans in a month use instead of spending P450 for a container of purified water costing P25 for the same period. Other water refilling stations charge P35 to P50 per container.

Janairo said water from refilling stations cannot be said to be 100 percent safe despite claims that the process runs thru several stages of purification He noted that the longer the process used, the higher the possibility of contamination. He revealed that watr being sold by two stations in Dagupan were found positive of E. coli bacteria in 2004.

Water refilling stations should undergo monthly testing of their system, he said. He urged them to use hyposol also in treating their water.

The cholera outbreak in Malasiqui and neighboring towns downed some 10,000 people in the province and killed at least 55 within three months in 2004. SWS was then pilot-tested in San Carlos and Malasiqui in 2005 and proved quite successful in controlling unsafe water.

This year, according to Janairo, SWS will be implemented in Bayambang, Basista, Bolinao, Malasiqui and San Carlos and also in San Fernando City in La Union. Phase III will include the whole of Pangasinan and la Union and some parts of Ilocos Sur and Norte.

All the high-risk households in Region 1 shall have been covered in 2010, the regional health director said..