Mine village has water with help from FSE, Palawan group, LGU

MANKAYAN, Benguet – Providing water to communities need not be hard as long as local folk find means to do this with help from Samaritans – in the case here, a mining company, an environmental group and the local government. 

           

Residents of Sitio Baguyos, Barangay Colalo here proved this when the Baguyos Rural Waterworks and Sanitation Association, Inc. was recently commissioned by  Mayor Materno Luspian after the association completed the last level in becoming a fully sanitized household water system.

           

In a simple rites here the mayor with councilor Greta Almora, cited  importance of the project in obtaining better living conditions for the people who now have access to clean and safe water.

In partnership with the Mankayan local government, Far Southeast Gold Resources, Inc. (FSE) tapped the expertise of A Single Drop of Safe Water (ASDSW), a Palawan based non-profit organization specializing in working with communities and their local government partners to conduct an inventory of their water supply situation and resources before creating a Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) plan for long term improvement.

In July last year, the ASDSW engineers came to Mankayan to start implementing the four stages of the project program with the FSE funding most of the program expenses.

 “This is a milestone for the WASH project here in Mankayan, out of the 22 original sitios, 18 were finalized and Baguyos had finally reached the last level wherein safe and clean water is flowing in the faucets inside their homes,” said ASDSW head engineer TeofiloViguella.

Baguyos is home of more than 40 households, wherein their water was tapped from the water source of SitioAmpontoc before the project started.

Engineer Jewardin Rodriguez meanwhile said he hoped other sitios and barangays would reach the final stages of their projects.

“We encountered obstacles during the implementation such as viability of water sources and cultural practices like taboos in working when someone dies in a community that hampered the project timetable but all of these were surmounted,” he said.

Luspian iterated the need for public private partnerships in having important projects like this, wherein beneficiaries are taught on how to plan and implement projects making it community-owned.

BRWSAI president Mrs. ErminiaPasagan thanked the FSE and the ASDSW for bringing the WASH program into their community and the local government unit for supporting this program.

With the water project done, they do not have to fetch from the spring to their homes for their daily water supply.

The highlight came when Mayor Luspian drank a full cup of clean and safe water from a household beneficiary’s faucet, followed by FSGRI representatives and barangay captain AmbinoPadawi of Colalo.