BOILER WATERS OF ILOILO PROVINCE^ 



By George W. Heise 



(From the Laboratory of General, Inorganic, and Physical Chemistry, 

 Bureau of Science, Manila, P. I.) 



A good illustration of the practical value of, and the necessity 

 for, a systematic study of Philippine water supplies was fur- 

 nished during the course of a recent field investigation of the 

 waters available for the municipal supply of Iloilo, on Panay 

 Island. 



Iloilo, now numbering over 50,000 inhabitants, is one of the 

 largest and most important cities in the Philippine Islands; yet 

 it has no water supply system. Its needs are supplied for the 

 most part by a number of brackish artesian wells, by surface 

 wells, and by rain-water cisterns. The users of boiler water 

 seem never to have been able to obtain waters suitable for their 

 needs. Practically without exception, the waters extensively 

 used at the present time are uniformly bad, and there have 

 been developed no sources of good water within a reasonable 

 radius of the city of Iloilo. The artesian wells of Iloilo and 

 vicinity are almost out of the question for boiler use, owing to 

 the excessive amounts of salt and scale-forming ingredients 

 which they contain, and the surface supplies are almost as bad. 

 A representative of one of the larger firms in Iloilo asserted 

 that his company was spending 500 pesos a month for boiler 

 parts and wear and tear on equipment, due to the use of bad 

 boiler water. There was no apparent reason to believe that 

 the figure mentioned was exaggerated, indicating that the waste 

 due to the use of improper water for industrial purposes 

 amounted to several thousand pesos per month for the city of 

 Iloilo alone. Most of the boiler water used is taken from Salog 

 River at Jaro, whence it is piped to Iloilo. Although known 

 to be of very poor quality, it was the best water available, and 

 was accordingly much used. 



No systematic study of the available water supplies had ever 

 been attempted. A preliminary investigation indicated that 

 there must be sources of good water available for use in Iloilo 

 Province either unknown or undeveloped. In the regular course 



' Received for publication, January 26, 1915. 



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