SET Mission Philippines 2013 WES Assessment in Daanbantayan and Bantayan – 23.11.2013 – 05.12.2013 (Short and Mid Term)
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Humanitarian Aid SDC/HA Emergency Operation SET Mission Philippines 2013 WES assessment in Daanbantayan and Bantayan – 23.11.2013 – 05.12.2013 (Short and mid term) 1.1 GENERAL SUMMARY After the typhoon destroyed most of the electricity supply infrastructures, all centralized water supply depending on power supply network stopped working. The only exceptions were the pumping stations permanently equipped with generators. In the whole Daanbantayan municipality only 2 wells were in this case (Tapilon and Maya water supply systems). One of the first measures taken by SHA SET team was to provide safe drinking water to the most vulnerable people by using bladders that were filled by a truck provided by Cebu Water Company. From November 20th, inhabitants of 5 barangays (Bitoon, Bakhavan, Dalingding, Calape and Bagay) had access to free drinking water. This action is the result of the fruitful cooperation between the Municipality (petrol for the truck), Maya waterworks (drinking water), Cebu City water district (water truck and its operators) and SDC (bladders and quality control). The bacteriological quality of the water provided to the beneficiaries was checked by SHA mobile laboratory. Confirmation was given that the disinfection process by using chlorine was efficient. After several days of activities, the fact that the water supply of the inhabitants with the bladder covers a real need must be underlined. Furthermore, the municipality foresees to continue such kind of operation during several weeks until all centralized water supply systems will be again operational. On November 25th, an assessment of the centralizer water supply systems existing in the municipality was launched in order to know the water supply situation in the municipality. The goals of these investigations were to propose solutions to restart the water systems and recommendations to improve the preparedness of the water infrastructure in case of natural hazards. On December 4, a coordination meeting was held in Daanbantayan Town Hall with the support of SHA experts in order to settle the immediate measures that can allow the restarting of the water networks. M. Augusto Corro, Mayor, and all barangays captains of the municipality defined an action plan to use as efficiently as possible the equipment available in the municipality (generator kits, water trucking, bladders, …). The contribution of SHA during this phase will be a technical support to local Authorities (coordination) and to the operators in charge of the chlorination and bacteriological analyses to be sure that the distributed water is free of fecal bacteria (disinfection and quality control). Early recovery and preparedness WES activities in north Cebu should be concentrated only in Daanbantayan municipality in order to be more efficient and with 2 main goals: 1. Soft component: To guaranty an adequate water quality monitoring by assessing and improving the water treatment procedures in the entire Municipality and designing tailor-made training course/ workshop in chlorination and water treatment by SDC WASH-staff for operators of the decentralized water supply cooperatives in Daanbantayan. 2. Improvement of the primary infrastructures of the water networks (pumping stations, energy supply, chlorination, reservoirs): The elaboration of a first project proposal based on a simple but qualitative design to repair and improve the pumping stations of the decentralized water supply systems will allow a quick start of a pilot project implementation. The proposed concept is to build a 2 rooms pumping station that will house the boreholes, a generator and the chlorination equipment. Such kind of infrastructure will increase significantly the preparedness of the water supply systems to natural disasters (as it was demonstrated in Maya waterworks). In case of a smooth implementation of the pilot project, it can be easily duplicated in most of the water supply systems of the municipality. Page 1 of 43 1.2 DRINKING WATER SUPPLY IN DAANBANTAYAN MUNICIPALITY WATER SUPPLY SITUATION BEFORE/ AFTER THE CYCLONE According to the data collected, a significant part of population of the 18 barangays of Daanbantayan municipality located on Cebu Island was supply with drinking water by centralized water systems. Most of the baragays had their own system managed by an association or a cooperative. The access to the water was not free of charge; each household had to pay a minimum fixed price for the 10 m3/ month (between 90 and 130 pesos, CHF 2-3.- per month) and 10- 13 pesos for additional m3 consumed (each connection has a water meter). Despite of this rather good organization, most of the systems were not operational after the cyclone because of the lack of electricity. In fact, only 1 pumping station located in Maya (NE of Daanbantayan) was permanently equipped with a generator installed in a well built pumping station. In all other barangays the population had to use shallow well, local spring and bottled water to cover their water needs the days after the cyclone. LOCAL ACTORS IN THE WATER SUPPLY DOMAIN The main actors are: - Local Autorities: Despite of the fact that the former Mayor of Daanbantayan decided to transfer the responsibility of the water supply from the municipalities to an association called “Daanbantayan Water District (DBWD)”, local authorities had to intervene to organize the water supply of the population after the cyclone because of the lack of initiative, willingness (capability?, financial means?) of the DBWD. - The water district Daanbantayan (DBWD). This organization subordinated to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources took over the management of most of the local water supply systems in 2010-2011. The only exceptions are the ones of Maya, Tapilon and Poblacion barangays that remain under the hands of their local association/ cooperative. According to the manager of the water district his organization started an important project in 2013 by drilling 2 new boreholes in Lanao barangay and found enough water to supply the northern part of the municipality of Daanbantayan. Approximately 11 km of main pipes will be installed in order to supply several districts located in the north of the municipality. The project’s time schedule foresees a total of 12 months to finalize the main works and start to connect the household to the new network. - The local associations or cooperatives like Maya Rural Waterworks association, Tapiton waterworks association and Dawassco (Poblacion Barangay). Most of the time rather well organized and self financed by the income generated by the water invoices. - The producers of water that supply their clients with 5 gallons bottles (25 pesos, approx CHF 0.50) filled by treated water. These private companies are proposing an alternative to the local centralized water supply systems. - The dwellers that are using their private shallow wells to compensate the lack of water. MAINS EXISTING PROBLEMS a) Quantity of water available: Population of Daanbantayan has to face a very difficult situation since Yolanda typhoon even if 2 additional water supply systems are again operational in Papilon, Tinubdan and Poblacion barangays thanks to the use of emergency generators. In the majority of the districts there is not enough financial means and local initiative to fix the existing problems and restart the systems without the power supply provided by the electrical grid. The fact the most of the infrastructures were in a rather poor condition already before the cyclone has also to be mentioned. b) Water quality: As it was written by Mrs E. Milnes SHA WES expert in her mission report: “Although the majority of the population of the Municipality of Daanbantayan is poor, there is a very high level of consciousness with respect to drinking water. Most people make a clear distinction between drinking water and technical water (for cleaning). Hence, the hand-dug wells, as the ones found in Daanbantayan, have usually not been used as drinking water supply in the past but are now also used by the population. Although boiling of water is a common procedure, we know little about the Page 2 of 43 water treatment on household level after the typhoon. Many people still buy drinking water (25 pesos/gallon) but others are using the available water sources which have been seen to be bacteriologically contaminated. Since the existing water sources are mostly problematic from a water quality perspective, and the way the people are supplying themselves has changed since the typhoon, special attention has to be given to water treatment issues, not only in the short-term perspective but should also be integrated in mid-longer term WASH actions in the area. (…) c) Water disinfection: Assessment of chlorination procedures has shown highly variable levels of know-how and procedures: usually manual chlorination of the water reservoirs is done but chlorination is not cross-validated with pool-testers. In Calapé we were told that chlorination is done directly in the well! (?) Access to chlorine powder seems to be no issue in the area but the use of it does not seem systematic. Hence, systematic assessment of water treatment procedures in the entire Municipality would be a very valuable component for mid-long term WASH interventions.”. 2. SHA RESPONSE IN THE WATER DOMAIN 2.1 SHA EMERGENCY ACTIVITIES After a first assessment, SHA SET Team decided to deploy one bladder kit (6 bladders with a capacity of 40 m3) in Daanbantayan municipality only few days after Yolanda. This equipment was installed and operational in 5 locations (Bagay, Bitoon, Calape, Bakhawan and Dalingding) on November 19th and 20th). A water truck (capacity of 10m3) from Metropolitan Cebu Water District was responsible to fill the bladders. Maya water association accepted to provide the drinking water. Three additional bladders were installed in Pay Pay (5 m3), Tominjao (5m3) and Bateria (5m3) on November 27th, 28th and 9th of December. With these 3 additional reservoirs the total capacity of the drinking water available in the 8 barangays is 55 m3 (enough for 11’000 persons, 5 l/ pers/ day resp.