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Water Taps Prevent Waterborne Diseases
Sheryll Nemazie, AECOM
With USAID assistance, the Indang Water District is installing water supply systems to replace water lines installed along the road and sometimes along open sewers that have caused waterborne diseases.
Residents of Barangay Indang in Cavite, Philippines now have clean drinking and bathing water in an area formerly prone to waterborne diseases due to underfunded delivery systems.
To reverse this pitfall and address serious and consistent delivery issues, USAID guaranteed a loan approved by the Bank of Philippine Islands. The Philippine Water Revolving Fund (PWRF) guarantees 50 percent of the loan taken out by the Indang District.
Previously, funding deficiencies required elected officials to construct a system that delivered water via water lines installed along roads and, sometimes, along open sewers. This had been the root cause of serious health and safety concerns.
With these challenges, it was hard to believe Indang was blessed with an abundant water supply coming from 84 springs. With the seemingly limitless reserves of water, the residents demanded that their local authorities deliver this critical commodity at no cost to them. While the delivery of water was achieved, the trade-off for receiving water at zero cost was its poor quality. Diarrhea and other diseases were widespread. Service reliability was also a concern, since water was unavailable for most of the day and often susceptible to disruptions.
Today, water lines that go directly inside residents’ homes are on the rise. Residents still take advantage of the free water service from local authorities for watering plants and flushing toilets. Water for drinking, cooking, bathing and clothes-washing, however, is taken from the safer and more reliable water lines.
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