ILOILO – The provincial government is walking through possible solutions to the lack of access to safe drinking water for households this dry season.
Of the province’s 43 local government units (LGUs), including Passi City, only 37 percent of the total 550,000 households have access to potable water, lower than the national average of 48 percent, according to the 2023 annual report of the Environmental Health and Sanitation Services collected by the Iloilo Provincial Health Office (IPHO).
Provincial Administrator Raul Banias presented to Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. the province’s state of access to safe drinking water on March 13.
Two municipalities have the lowest percentages of access to safe drinking water: Concepcion with only seven percent and Ajuy with only one percent.
“Kada banwa makita naton kon ano ang sitwasyon and medyo alarming gid,” Banias said in a Bombo Radyo Iloilo interview.
In compliance with the governor’s directive to address the issue, he convened the concerned provincial government department offices, such as the IPHO, Provincial Government Environment and Natural Resources, Provincial Agriculture Office, Provincial Engineering Office, and Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office.
In their discussion, among the proposed steps to take is how they can hasten the rain harvesting and water impounding programs as Iloilo is facing the adverse effects of El Niño, which is expected to be a recurring weather and climate event.
The provincial government will hold a Water Planning Workshop next month with expert resource persons and will also put in investments and funding in Iloilo’s Annual Investment Plan, Banias disclosed.
“Ma-invite kami sang experts to further educate us on how to address this situation sang probinsya sang Iloilo,” he added.
Banias explained that the provincial government annually allocates funds for the potable water system for the barangays. In 2024 alone, the fund for the project reached P30 million.
But with this problem of access to safe drinking water, there is a likelihood that the fund will increase, the provincial administrator said.
“Siguro i-increase ang aton allocation sa program sang provision sang potable water system para mapataas ang manubo nga percentage,” he also said.
Banias noted that the provincial government wants to involve the water districts so that more consumers will be served.
“Amo ni ang sitwasyon sa probinsya, and I think nabal-naman naton nga access to safe water is basic right sang tawo,” Banias noted.
The provincial administrator is aware of the importance of access to safe drinking water because women in the household suffered the worst, especially the wives doing daily chores.
And since March is National Women’s Month, Banias wants to pay close attention and come up with solutions as soon as possible.
The provincial administrator is confident that addressing this is not far-fetched, citing that in 2022, the Iloilo provincial government focused on its campaign on zero open defecation (ZOD), which has been a success and has been named a Galing Pook Awardee.
Under the ZOD campaign, all households in the province have a sanitary toilet./PN
