Water and sanitation services for all
2003
Indon, R., Hofileña, C.F. Lapitan, G.B. (eds.)
The water and sanitation situation. Access to safe water and sanitation is essential not only for human survival, but also to improve the lives of people, particularly the poor. Safe water and sanitation are necessary building blocks in the development of healthier and more productive communities. Yet access to safe water and sanitation services continues to be a major concern among many Filipinos. Philippine statistics, for instance, show that only 67 percent of the urban population and 87 percent of the rural population has access to water, while only 69 percent of the population nationwide has sanitation facilities. The problem is directly linked to issues and problems related to the policy, institutional, technical, financial, socio-cultural, and economic environments. Meeting the challenge, the challenge posed to LGUs [Local Government units] is to enhance and re-imagine their involvement in water and sanitation service delivery. As will b e shown in this resource book, LGU experiences in water and sanitation projects-particularly those which have used the community-managed and socially privitized institutional arrangements-show tremendous promise in terms of project success and sustainability. Such LGU efforts eventually achieved capital development and water sanitation service efficiency, but also encouraged the growth of strong local democracy and institution building. The experiences of community-managed systems (in Doña Flavia, Casay and New Bulatakan) and of a socially-privatized system (in Darangan) reveal that these two institutional arrangements are fast emerging as alternative and viable models of community-based water systems, compared to the traditional models of government-controlled or private corporation-controlled water systems. Community management and social privatization do not mean lesser government involvement. On the contrary, government agencies are LGUs, in particular, will continue to play a vital role in providing a favorable policy climate for greater community participation in WATSAN service delivery, and in ensuring sustained institutional support for the organizations involved.
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