News Feature: P25M project to bring potable water to Villareal

By Erlinda Olivia P. Tiu

Sunday 19th of August 2012

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte, August 19 (PIA) -- Residents of Villareal town in Samar province may have forgotten that tap water once flowed into their homes.

After all, it has been decades since they enjoyed water from their faucets instead of fetching water in pails and plastic containers from deep wells.

This could change in a few months as Villareal, on August 15 broke ground for a 25-Million peso water project that stands to benefit about 14,000 people or 60% of its population.

The project is a soft loan from the Municipal Development Fund Office (MDFO) under the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

DILG-8 Regional Director Pedro A. Noval Jr., who was the guest of honor during the ground breaking, lauded municipal officials led by Mayor Reynato R. Latorre for persistently pursuing the project after years of exploring alternatives for a viable water source, Mr. Myles Colasito, DILG-8 information chief said.

“This project will be one of your legacies to the generations to come. With a dependable supply of safe drinking water, there will be less water-borne diseases and you will have more time spent for other aspects of life instead of needing to fetch water from communal faucets,” said Director Noval.

Mayor Latorre revealed that the municipality shall form a cooperative to manage the facility. He expressed optimism that there would be no more repitition of previous incidents of kaingin (slash and burn farming) that decreased the flow at the water source at Milagrosa Falls in Barangay San Andres, as well as of pipes being vandalized for irrigation purposes, which led to the destruction of the town’s original water system.

Mayor Latorre recalled how the town was finally able to secure an extension of the loan offering. The municipality’s Memorandum of Agreement with DOF was about to lapse when he approached MDFO on June 28, 2012.

The DOF official agreed, on the condition that the town complies with the DILG’s Full Disclosure Policy and the standards of the Seal of Good Housekeeping, consistent with this administration’s campaign to institutionalize transparency and accountability.

Fortunately, the LGU was able to show such certification from the DILG-8 Regional Office, and so his request was granted.

The LGU has commissioned Houston Construction for the water project, which includes upgrading of the existing water intake box at the site, installation of a water treatment facility, construction of a ground reservoir, and laying down of transmission and distribution pipes.

The project is set to be completed by February 2013.

Fourteen barangays will be set up with Level 3 or household level water systems with Level 2 or communal faucets to be installed in five (5) of these barangays to accommodate those without water connections.

Six barangays in the town proper are covered by this water project.

These are Central, Mercado, Miramar, Soledad, Tayud and Villarosa. Residents in eight rural barangays will also be able to avail of the new water system, namely, Cambaguio, Canmucat, Mahayag, Pacoyoy, Pangpang, San Andres, San Roque and Ulayan.

Mr. Colasito said the interest rate under the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Fund has been reduced to 6% from the original 8% to enable easier payback.

Nationwide, about 600 LGUs are classified as “waterless”, or those where most of its population do not have a reliable supply of safe drinking water.

To help address this problem, DILG provides advocacy and technical assistance in document preparation and fund sourcing through the MDG Fund and Sagana at Ligtas na Tubig sa Lahat (SALINTUBIG) programs, Mr. Colasito said. (PIA 8)