The sales of bottled water made from desalinated water of the Genkai Sea since last year April has been going well. The “Drinkable sea water” has been on sale for ¥200 at the City Hall’s Universal Cafe, and in the eight months since it came out has sold over 5,000 bottles. For each bottle the city donates ¥100 toward planting new saplings, and this year they donated to Oita prefecture’s Hita City, a municipality containing primary sources of water for the region. This year the planting event was held on November 4th and gathered 265 participants. The city donated one third, or 600 saplings to the event. While contributing to the planting event, the bottled water also promotes Umino Naka Michi Nata Desalination facility, “Mamizu Pier”. The facility is the largest nationally, and was established in 2005 as a means for the city to acquire water independently. The facility can desalinate over 50,000 tons of salt water a day, which is then mixed with purified water and supplied to Higashi District. Source: Fukuoka Shisei Dayori
