Tampakan, South Cotabato – More than 600 residents of the village of Lampitak in this town will finally get a taste of accessible, clean and safe water after decades of waiting.

With the construction of the Lampitak Potable Water System, households in this village would no longer depend on deep wells and water from the river and spring, which pose serious health risks and problems.

The P4.3-million project is funded by the implemented by the Department of Agriculture (DA)-Philippine Rural Development Project (PRDP). Under its Intensified Building Up of Infrastructure and Logistics Development or I-BUILD component, the PWS system is also the first PRDP subproject to be completed.

“This project is a great remedy to the clamor of my people to have a safe water source,” Lampitak Barangay Captain Marinillo Ngalon said, adding that the PWS will serve around two thousand villagers.

The village’s Lampitak Waterworks and Sanitation Association (LAMWASA) will manage the project, which consists of water reservoirs and around 60 units of faucets with water meter and washtubs.

“This project was not only the triumph of the association members, having the kind of blessing given by the government, but by all of Lampitak,” LAMWASA President Montemar Masamiloc said during the turnover ceremony held last month.

Masamiloc added that the villagers are expecting to progress into the next level of the PWS system, which will directly bring water to every household. Currently, the Level II project requires water to be accessed through tap stands shared by a number of households in the community.

“We will not just stop until we progress in the stage that all households, whether far from the PWS, will have an easy access to the clean and safe water,” he said.

Tampakan Mayor Leonardo Escobillo expressed his gratitude to the DA project, which he said, is “only one of the many developments implemented by DA” in the town.

“This project provides valuable sustenance to the residents of Barangay Lampitak, because it had been long-aspired by them,” Mayor Escobillo said. (Lito Salvo, DA 12 InfoACE)

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