Provide water access to 435 poor Filipinos

From the last update in February 2013, SIBAT were happy to annouce that the recently reparied pump was installed, working and pumping water to the residents of Paang Bundok. SIBAT have since been monitoring the situation and in a shared descision with the Peoples Organisation have decided that to ensure sustainability of the system that improvements must be made to make the water distribution system more rebust. Consequently, as well as some incidental repairs it has been decide to undertake building concrete tapstands at each point of water delivery. Concrete tapstands will be more robust than the existing plastic faucets and also bring the additionaly benefit of providing a clean area for water collection, therefore improving sanitation.

So far, due to generous donations, SIBAT have been able to fund the building of 4 tapstands, during which training was given to the system operators to teach them how to build future sets. It is planned to build a further 16 tapstands to complete the improvements to the whole water distribution system, although funds are still being sought to buy the required materials for these. After training conducted with system operators, the Peoples Organisation will undertake the building of these tapstands themselves - the progress of which will be monitored by SIBAT.

During a recent site visit, SIBAT were happy to observe a satisfaction among the community about the improvements the repair of the pump has brought to the village. Many residents expressed their satisfaction from having much easier access to water and said it was saving them a lot of time that used to be spent on the menial task of water collection.