Mindanao potable water projects turned over to NAPC
27 July 2006

The Alliance for Mindanao Off-grid Renewable Energy (AMORE) Program recently turned over to the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) 63 potable water projects benefiting some 9,000 individuals in remote coastal and upland villages in conflict areas in Mindanao.

The projects were turned over by AMORE chief Ma. Theresa Cruz-Capellan to NAPC General Secretary Datu Zamzamin Ampatuan in the island barangay of Tictabon in Zamboanga City, one of the beneficiary villages.

All these communities used to be bereft of the most basic necessities such as water and electricity before AMORE not only electrified them with renewable energy such as solar and microhydro power, but also gave them access to safe drinking water in support of Pres. Arroyo’s goal of bringing both electricity and water to all barangays in the country.

Tictabon, in particular, a Muslim community that could not be connected to the power grid and whose residents had to buy water at an average of 30 pesos a day from water peddlers from outside the village, was electrified by AMORE with solar home systems in April 2004, after which the program helped the locals rehabilitate their rainwater catchment and trained them to disinfect their drinking water. They now spend an average of only 10 pesos a day for water.

The water projects are seen to lower the incidence of waterborne diseases such as diarrhea, cholera and dysentery in the host barangays.

“We are happy to be able to bring not only electricity but also clean water to some of the most marginalized villages in Mindanao, where 43% of our country’s waterless municipalities can be found,” says AMORE chief Ma. Theresa Cruz-Capellan.

“These water projects will not only help improve the health of their beneficiaries, but will also give women and children, who usually fetch water for their families in these villages, more time for more productive activities and for studying, respectively,” she adds.

Of the 63 water projects, 11 are potable water systems, including one powered by solar photovoltaic energy, and rehabilitated rainwater catchments, and the rest trained the communities to perform water disinfection.

AMORE partnered with the Japan and British Embassies for potable water systems in Sultan Kudarat and with the Peace and Equity Foundation (PEF) for a solar-powered potable water system in Sulu. PEF is also supporting AMORE’s introduction of sodium hypochloride for water treatment in remote Sulu barangays.

“We need more partners to be able to construct more water systems, especially those in which drinking water will be pumped by solar energy, to be able to benefit more people,” Capellan says.

“We are also exploring the use of other simple, very affordable and tested water disinfection technologies to maximize the number of our beneficiaries,” she adds.