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By Nora O. Gamolo, Senior Desk Reporter
Access to clean and adequate water is a basic
human right, but remains an acute seasonal problem in urban and
coastal areas in the Philippines.
The Health Policy Note on water released by the
Department of Health in April, revealed that 83 percent of
households had access to safe water in 2006, only percent away from
the target for 2010.
On the other hand, the percentage of households
with access to sanitation was only 75 percent, 16 percent lower than
the 91 percent target for 2010.
Improvements have been slow and inconsistent,
with very little growth in building access to safe water and even
less in building sanitation facilities. This is aggravated buy high
population growth.
Pockets of low access to safe water and
sanitation persist. Several areas in the country have chalked up
persistently low coverage rates for safe water and sanitary
facilities. The Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is the
lowest performing among regions, with only 55 percent access rate to
safe water, and 34 percent access to sanitary toilets. It also has
the highest reported incidence of water pollution, and sanitation
and hygiene-related diseases in the country.
The regions lacking safe water coverage, a basic
service, also have higher morbidity rates. The top five regions in
terms of acute watery diarrhea, are also the top lowest ranking
regions in terms of access to basic water services.
The DOH paper noted variations across income
groups. Access to basic sanitation by low-income families is 22
percent lower than that of high income households with access to
safe water and sanitary toilets.
Disparity also occurs between rural and urban
households. Only 59 percent of rural households have access to basic
sanitation, compared with urban households which have 80 percent
coverage.
But there is a problem even in areas with access
to safe water and sewerage facilities: The quality of service is
substandard. Surveys show that one half or more of LGU-operated
water systems do not meet drinking water quality standards. This
partly explains why four out of seven waterborne disease outbreaks
recorded in 2007 to 2008 were caused by the contamination of water
from local water districts or LGU-managed water systems, as what
happened in Calamba, Laguna, in March.
Typhoid broke out in the town, despite its
relatively high coverage of safe water (93 percent) and sanitary
toilets (88 percent). The typhoid eruption caused a state of
calamity. There were 2,562 cases, with two deaths. Direct costs
alone for drugs and financial assistance from the national
government amounted to P1.9 million.
Household and industrial waste should be stored
in correctly built septic tanks to prevent contaminating waterways.
However, less than 1 percent of septic tanks in the Philippines are
known to undergo regular desludging and the appropriate treatment.
The study noted that access to safe water is
hampered by lack of financing and regulatory and operational gaps.
There is inadequate investment in safe water and sewerage services
due to high cost of capital investment and operations in water and
sanitation, on top of other factors like low tariffs, low user fees,
and poor revenue generation, based on studies made by the Asian
Development Bank in 2007.
To create more access to water and sanitation
services and facilities, the government should strengthen its role
as regulator, enforcing minimum standards with penalties and
incentives, and ensuring that privatization will not exacerbate
access problems.
The country has a Clean Water Act whose
provisions need to be implemented.
Incentives should be given to establishments
that put up industrial wastewater treatment facilities, adopt water
pollution control technology, use cleaner production system and
observe waste minimization standards.
Besides reviewing mandates and ensure
collaboration of water-related stakeholders like the national and
local governments, private business and civil society, financing
strategies and arrangements have to be developed to give the people
more access to water and sanitation services.
The Department of Health paper also suggested
that the private sector be tapped to make water and sanitation
investments, and that the government invest in services and
facilities for the poor when there is no private sector response To
ensure financing for water and sanitation projects, the government
may create a “water and sanitation fund” designed to fast track
building access to safe water and sanitation in needy areas.
In more developed areas where poor communities
are found, specific financing arrangements between the government
and private concessionaires need to be negotiated to promote access.
Concerned agencies need to clarify their roles
and collaborate with each other and support systems. Stakeholder
roles and responsibilities need to be well-delineated, and
appropriate performance benchmarks need to be specified. Oversight
functions and mechanisms also need to be defined.
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