Water

Country Water Action: Philippines
Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Project
(July 2004)

On average, two out of three people in the rural areas of the Philippines lack access to potable water. This proportion is markedly higher than the Asian average of one in three people. The provision of water supply and sanitation facilities in rural areas is, therefore, a priority of the Philippine Government.

ADB's Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project focuses on some 3,000 rural communities in the 20 poorest provinces in the country. Among its objectives are to:

• Provide safe, adequate and reliable WSS services to selected low-income rural communities through community-based arrangements
• Support health and hygiene education, water quality surveillance, and community management activities

The Project is divided into two parts.

• Part 1- institutional development, which involves capacity building for local institutions, organization of village-level water associations (Barangay Waterworks and Sanitation Association -BWSA), health and hygiene education, and water quality control and surveillance
• Part 2- WSS facilities, which involves the construction of some 6,100 water supply systems, and rehabilitation of 2,000 shallow wells and 130 springs.

To date, the Project has resulted in the construction of 5,869 water supply facilities, organization of 4,172 BWSAs, and training of about 4000 representatives of communities and local institutions. On the sanitation side, it has yielded some 378 institutional toilets, 91.400 private toilets and 64 water analysis laboratories.

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The Project has introduced several innovations and good practices, specifically in terms of mobilizing the communities and enabling them to manage their own water supply systems. This section will focus on three of the more successful sites for this project.

• Guimaras
• Biliran
• Southern Leyte
• Eastern Samar