Saipan Ice & Water Co. turns 19

He is probably one of the people that the Commonwealth won’t forget any time soon for one outstanding reason: He has provided the community clean drinking water.

Anthony Pellegrino, who built the first water company on Saipan, has successfully turned the people’s water drinking practices around.

“When I first came here, people were drinking rainwater because there’s no other clean water available to them. So the idea of providing clean water to the public immediately came to mind. I went ahead and up to now, I’m into it,” said a smiling Pellegrino in an interview in his office in Puerto Rico.

And today, the pioneer and initiator still exudes that spirit of determination and passion to carry on the business for more years.

“We’re focused on how to make our service to the people become even better,” he said.

In fact, he pointed out that Saipan Ice & Water just invested this year $45,000 for an injection well, which is twice deeper than a production well.

An injection well is needed to properly dispose of wastewater back into the ground. This way, the dirty water does not end up in the lagoon to pollute the marine environment.

Likewise, Pellegrino said that Saipan Ice & Water Co. Inc. attained another “first” when it hired its own in-house chemical engineer to do its daily water testing. The company brought in Melissa Panuringan, a registered chemical engineer from the Philippines.

Panuringan worked for Procter & Gamble Philippines prior to her acceptance of the Saipan Ice job.

The company put up its own water laboratory over five years ago to enhance safety and quality of drinking water before bottling and delivery to customers.

“Running this kind of business requires a lot. And you’ve got to invest if you really want to offer the best product,” he said.

What most people do not see, he said, is that bottled water’s cost primarily goes to two major items: delivery and testing.

“The cost of delivery is horrendous. Consider the cost for the truck, the driver, the insurance, the maintenance, fuel, taxes. The cost of delivery is very, very expensive,” he said.

In the same manner, water testings average $3,000 to $4,000 a month in expenses.

Without these two major costs, he said that a gallon of water would just cost 10 to 15 cents. “That’s why if people buy water from the plant, they get it at a very low price,” he said.

Pellegrino said he is happy with the fact that since his business began in 1985, it has grown to become the CNMI’s most trusted source of pure drinking water, getting the largest share of the market.

Saipan Ice prides itself for producing water that does not smell of chlorine. The secret to Saipan Ice’s odorless water, Pellegrino said, is in the ozonation process in purifying the water.

The company said that although the process may actually be 10-15 times more costly than chlorination, “the quality of the water it produces is well worth it.”

Pellegrino said he remains confident in the quality of his product amid the presence of several other water companies that began to mushroom on the island.

From being the only water company in the mid-80s, Saipan Ice now competes with 12 to 13 other companies—all offering the same product.

“But people know the taste of a high-quality drinking water,” Pellegrino said.

From fulfilling the community’s water needs using a single purifier and a manual filling unit 19 years ago, Saipan Ice now purifies and bottles water in a facility composed of two buildings housing the ozonation units, three state-of-the-art reverse osmosis units and a 375 and 150 bottle-per-hour automatic bottlers.

“It’s our 19th year now. What can I say but to say a heartfelt thank you to our dear customers. I thank them for the trust they’re giving us,” he said.

“If there’s any trouble, I will appreciate people calling me in the office or even in the house to help them,” he said.