Carcar Water District, together with its project partner Vitens Evides International (VEI), distributed at least sixty (60) certificates to the water system expansion project beneficiaries in Mahayahay Guadalupe, Carcar City, on Friday, January 17, 2020. The recipients of the certificates will enjoy the privilege of free/subsidized installation fees upon application for a new service connection.

Present in the event were the members of the Board of Directors of the water district- Danilo Ledesma, Mercucio “Ondo” Tangkay and Ms. Alexis Trininad. Also in attendance were Engr. Edward Remo, the general manager of CWD, Carl Kamstra, the project manager of VEI together with his staff, Francois van Ekkendonk a short term expert on Asset Management from the Netherlands and the Barangay Chairmen of Guadalupe and Poblacion I, Hon. Giovanni Barcenas and Baltazar Rojo. Residents of these two barangays, particularly Sitio Mahayahay, Guadalupe and Tipolo, Poblacion I will directly benefit from the project.

Vincent Laporre, a resident of Mahayahay, Guadalupe, thanked the water district and its partner for making his dream come true. “This has long been our dream in this place- to have access to potable water. In the past, we had to walk hours under the heat of the sun just to fetch water from the nearest spring. Now, water is available in our houses. I can easily observe how my plants have grown so well because of regular watering,” said Vincent when the emcee asked the audience what difference in their lives had the project done to them.

For her part, Lea Alcover thanked CWD and VEI for making her life and the lives of others easier. She said “it used to be very burdensome on our part, most especially the girls in this village, to get water from the spring because we had to walk a good distance and spend a considerable amount of time just to wash our clothes, cook for our meals, and take a bath. Now, water is already in our houses and we can’t thank the water district enough for bringing water inside our homes. Indeed, life has become easier for us since the time that access to water was made available in our place”.

During his introductory message, CWD General Manager, Engr. Edward Remo, informed all those who were present the difficulties encountered by the office just to realize the project.  He shared the challenges encountered and how the water district was able to deliver its services to the residents of a highly elevated area and how water, which needed to be pumped twice and at a very high elevation, was being delivered right at the very homes of the residents of Mahayahay Guadalupe and Tipolo, Poblacion I. Likewise, when asked to give his message, Carl Kamstra, project manager of VEI, expressed the genuine interest of the Dutch government and the Dutch people to extend assistance to its partners in the Philippines and increase the number of CWD’s service connections by 1500 at the end of the project. He said that VEI has been working closely with CWD to ensure that access to potable water in the City of Carcar will be provided in keeping with its commitment to take an active part in the attainment of sustainable development goals.

The water system expansion project in Mahayahay, Guadalupe, which consist of 3,725 meters pipeline extension and construction of a 130 c.u. meter reservoir commenced in the third quarter of 2019 and was made operational before the end of that year. At least 120 households are expected to benefit from the project.