NEWSFLASH

MAYON’S WATER PURE ENOUGH FOR EXPORT

Legazpi City, March 18, 2000 - Mayon Volcano, famous worldwide for its almost perfect cone and photogenic eruptions, will soon be well known for something else: bottled mineral water collected from natural springs on its slopes.

"This is the best potable water in the world," said Antonio Villanueva, an entrepreneur, who is putting up the Mayon Bottlers Company, Incorporated.

Villanueva will tap the huge deposit of mineral water flowing at the southeast sector of the volcano in Barangay Kalayukan in Sto. Domingo town.

"Volcanoes are the best source of mineral water," says Villanueva, who claims that drinking mineral water from the Mayon Volcano has given residents in Sto. Domingo town better-looking teeth with fewer cavities than residents elsewhere in the region.

Villanueva plans to sell the water to countries like the Middle East and other countries in the world.

"In fact, we can barter the mineral water from Mayon with their oil," he said, revealing ambitious plans to rent tankers to ship the waters in bulk to the different parts of the world.

Paz Patria Lobo, chemist of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said that the three water samples submitted for chemical and physical evaluation is even better than existing water supply.

Lobo said that the water was clear, no visible sediment, odorless and colorless - and no presence of sediment and harmful chemical like iron.