‘Every household, every school, and every institution deserves reliable access to safe drinking water.’
BAYAWAN City’s new water refilling station is equipped with advanced ultrafiltration technology capable of producing 800 liters of purified water every hour for residents, schools and communities.
Photo courtesy of DENR
For nearly two decades, Bayawan City, Negros Occidental has built a reputation as model for local environmental governance. The city formalized household waste segregation in 2005 and later introduced a Pay-As-You-Throw program aimed at encouraging accountability in waste generation.
This year, the city pursued another essential community need: affordable water.
It used to be that Barangay Villareal resident Linda Gutib pay as much as P35 for a delivered gallon of drinking water or more when delivery was not available as someone in the family had to travel to buy water, adding transportation costs to an already stretched household budget.
Today, the cost has fallen to P15 per gallon after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Water Resources Management Office (DENR-WRMO) and the Bayawan Water District (BAWAD) built a water refilling station.
“Every household, every school, and every institution deserves reliable access to safe drinking water, and this project brings that goal closer for thousands of Bayawanons,” DENR Secretary Juan Miguel T. Cuna said.
The local water district funded the construction of the facility, provided the site and will oversee the station’s operation.
The filtration equipment and supplies were provided through the DENR-WRMO’s Water Refilling Station Equipment for Water Districts Program. The initiative supports local water districts in expanding community access to safe, affordable, and purified drinking water.
The facility can produce up to 800 liters of purified drinking water per hour, good for at least 2,336 individuals in the city’s public schools, government institutions, low-income households, and water district concessionaires.
“It means a lot to us to have a nearby source of clean drinking water,” Gutib said. “This results in significant savings for families like ours, and we are assured of having safe drinking water that is always within reach.”
For Richel Layan, a sidecar driver from Barangay San Vicente, access to affordable water also has created a modest new source of income.
Layan now purchases gallons from a newly opened refilling station and resells them while making his rounds. On days when passenger traffic is slow, water sales help fill the income gap.
“In a simple way, it also becomes a source of livelihood for people like me who are looking for other income streams,” she added.
As Bayawan continues to strengthen the systems that keep its surroundings cleaner and its communities healthier, the newest addition may be one of the simplest: a place where residents can refill a container with safe drinking water and bring it home.
For thousands of Bayawanons, that simple act carries value that reaches far beyond the refill station itself.
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