Reposted from Bicol Standard website.

There are at least 187,673 persons in Bicol who were found to have no access to clean and safe water, as well as exhibit poor cleanliness and sanitation, according to the latest data from Listahanan or the National Household Targeting for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

In Bicol, the provinces of Masbate, Camarines Sur and Albay top the list of households with the highest incidents of unhygienic practices. The same provinces also have the least access to safe water.

Listahanan, the DSWD’s targeting system that identifies and locates the poor also reports that 30% of underprivileged Bicolanos supply themselves with drinking water from dug wells. This is mostly practiced in rural areas, predominantly in Masbate.

Meanwhile, in sum, 2.5 million poor households from all over the country are challenged with this sanitation problem.

The Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS) seeks to address this issue. Said program has delivered and served potable water facilities in 260 barangays across the region in assistance to the Bicolanos who are deprived of clean water.

KALAHI-CIDSS is one of the poverty alleviations of DSWD that uses the community driven development (CDD) approach. The program strongly advocates community involvement in the design and implementation of the projects.–BICOLSTANDARD.COM