Desalinated drinking water arrives in RP WOULD YOU SHELL out P100 for haifa liter of bottled water? Probably not if the water was drawn from the usual underground reservoirs. But what if it comes from the sea, about a kilometer below the surface tainted by pollution, man-made chemicals, and bacteria, as the label says? But what if it comes from the sea, about a kilometer below the surface tainted by pollution, man-made chemicals, and bacteria, as the label says? Officials of Ocean-Blue Element International Trading Inc., which launched its MaHalo Hawaii Deep Sea desalinated drinking water on Friday, said their product was targeted mainly at the health conscious market, like those who are diabetic or have kidney problems. Ocean-Blue is the importer-distributor of MaHalo and is a subsidiary of Koyo USA Corp. based in Kona, Hawaii, where parent firm Koyo-Sha Corp. of Japan teamed up with state agency Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority or NELHA to develop the technology for harvesting and processing deep sea water According to the firm’s press materials, the water is _ nearly 2,000 years old at the point of extraction (deep in Kona waters) and has traveled under the polar ice caps,twai said Koyo was aiming for global distribution of MaHalo and that, after the Philippines, the firm was looking at China, Thailand and other markets in the region for further expansion. He-aiso said the manufacturer was considering smaller bottles for MaHalo which could help reach a wider market in a country where the “sachet economy” or “ting!” has a big influence on buyers.