In the rural areas of
the Philippines, the local government units usually operate systems that
deliver potable water to their constituents, either directly through their engineering
department or through community-based organizations (CBOs) such cooperatives,
BAWASA, etc. CBOs usually operate water supply systems (Level I and Level II,
then convert later to Level III) with support from the national government or
non-governmental organizations (NGOs). However, experience have shown that where
the service is carried out directly by the local government unit, it is characterized
by a severe lack of technical, financial, or management capabilities, and
eventually prone to breakdowns due to lack of resources to maintain the same.
Another challenge
facing ARB households is the burden brought by unsafe water sources which is a
source of waterborne diseases caused by pathogenic microorganisms that most
commonly are transmitted in contaminated fresh water. Infection commonly
results during bathing, washing, drinking, food preparation, or the consumption
of contaminated food. Various forms of waterborne diarrheal disease probably
are the most common examples and affect mainly children in the community. Data
from World Health Organization showed that such diseases account for an
estimated 4.1% of the total global burden of disease, and cause about 1.8
million human deaths every year. The World Health Organization estimates that
88% of that burden is attributable to unsafe water supply, sanitation and
hygiene. ("Burden of disease and
cost-effectiveness estimates." World Health Organization)
Hence, The Department
of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Provincial Office of Cagayan, the Local Government
Unit of Abulug and the Golden Harvest Cluster Multi-Purpose Cooperative (GHCMPC)
have jointly implemented a Community-Managed Potable Water Supply and
Sanitation (CPWASH) Project at Riverside Agrarian Reform Community (ARC) in
barangay Canayun, Abulug, Cagayan.
The project aimed to
enhance the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARB) and their household members’ access
to potable water and sanitation services to improve the water supply and sanitation
situation in the ARC through low-cost, culturally acceptable and appropriate
technologies that can be managed and sustained by the community.
Under the project, DARPO-Cagayan
provided technical advisory services, including mentoring, logistics support,
conducted information dissemination on the PCWASH project processes, continuous
provision of social infrastructure and local capability
building activities to enable the participants to manage the operate and
project.
The LGU-Abulug also allocated and provided the amount of
fifty thousand pesos (Php50,000) as counterpart for the construction of the
water and sanitation demonstration projects in the identified project sites in
the community.
The Golden Harvest Cluster
Multi-Purpose Cooperative provided the necessary labor requirements during the
construction/installation of the demo PWSS project as its project counterpart. It
created a Water Supply and Sanitation (WASH)
committee from among the members of the cooperative to ensure the sustainable
management of the facilities as an additional cooperative enterprise/service to
its members.
The Community-Managed
Potable Water Supply and Sanitation (CPWASH) Project involved three days of
lectures that taught the ARBs how to build the
Bio-sand filter, Iron-removal filter and a Bio-gas digester, plus another
six days in the hands-on construction of the same.
The bio-sand filter
strains water using sand and small stones (grabita) placed in a container with
a faucet. It is portable and can be used
for one single household only. The iron-removal filter is made of
concrete, enclosed and placed permanently in one site preferably beside the
source of water, such as the water pump. It is used to remove odour and muddy
colour by using charcoal. It can serve around twenty households. The bio-gas digester is made of concrete and is used as septic vault for human and
animal manure. With proper disposal of wastes, it can produce methane gas similar
to the liquefied petroleum gas for cooking, which can drastically reduce
household expenses.
The project is being managed
by the cooperative and is responsible in the identification and selection of
project recipients, monitoring, sustainability and replication of the project
in other areas as an additional business enterprise. /cds
