1. Background of the Problem

Water is a basic need and according to the United Nations access to it is also a human right. It is an essential part of daily life and in maintaining good health. Safe water is utilized by humans through sanitation, food production, and hydration. Unsafe drinking water can lead to so many serious health conditions and even death. Every year many people, most especially children, suffer from dehydration and electrolyte imbalances caused by diarrheal diseases. It might be an easily preventable problem, but still many people are seriously affected by this especially those living in poverty-stricken communities where water is considered a luxury. In these areas, water sources are usually communal or public and there is no purification method used for drinking water.

In Barangay Maras, there are a couple of different water sources used by the residents and most of them are communal and are not yet confirmed to be potable.  The households situated near the highway get their drinking water from a dug wells with hand pump and a few would buy from the nearby water-refilling station. Some households are connected to the piped spring water system established by the Local Officials but the water is rationed and still limited. Along the highway, an average of 25-30 households share 1 water source. In the areas far from the main road, drinking water is taken from an open dug well or a protected spring. Purok Waling-Waling is the only purok that has no water source of its own and people would walk in distances even as far as 200 meters through dense grasslands and narrow roads on top of cliffs just to get water.  In terms of water storage and purification, the residents utilize covered containers, which most of them clean regularly, but not all purify their drinking water.

1. Solution

To manage these problems, approaches must be focused on changing the negative practices of the community, mobilize the people, and utilize available resources to improve the situation of the water sources.

1. Sustainability

Community involvement is the best way to ascertain sustainability of the programs that will be implemented. All throughout the process, from the identification of the problem up to the evaluation of results, the people must be actively involved to instill the sense of ownership and cooperation in them. The local leaders must also be empowered so that they will be motivated to guide the people effectively and provide independent decisions in managing the projects.

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