MEF Promotes Access to Clean Water in Calauan

The Promotions Campaign for the “Access to Clean Water” component of the USAID-ECO-Asia project “Promoting Access to Urban Water and Waste Water Services” was formally launched last January 26, 2012 in Calauan, Laguna in partnership with the Manila Water Foundation and Happy2Help Foundation.

Dubbed “Open House and Water Coop Blessing”, the one-day event started with the blessing of the local water cooperative named Southville 7 Site 3 Consumers Cooperative (S7S3CC), followed by a program highlighting the need to patronize  drinking water from the coop instead of from the nearby spring and deep wells as the latter was found to be not potable. 

Right after the morning program which culminated in the awarding of 50 free water containers to the regular customers of the cooperative, a series of training sessions followed.

Every 30 minutes from 1:00 pm-4:00 pm, batches of around 25 residents attended the Water Access, Sanitation and Health (WASH) Orientation.  The training program consisted of a water coop facility tour, input on water-related issues, open forum and the symbolic signing of their commitment to patronize the coop water.

The event was able to mobilize and train around 200 residents, project the water coop as provider of accessible, affordable clean drinking water, connect the water coop to other stakeholders and partners, and give the promotions campaign a good start.