The Rotary Club Iloilo City with the financial contribution by the Rotary Club of Sae Goyang (South Korea) donated to the Barangay (district) Ban-Ag in the Municipality of Santa Barbara in Iloilo Province a solar-powered water treatment unit. The unit supplies the families in the district and people from neighbouring Barangays with safe drinking water at affordable prices.
The rural Brgy Ban-ag and its neighbours is the home to approximately 1,700 people. It is located on the Island of Panay in West Visayas, pretty much in the centre of the archipelago. The inhabitants lack access to clean and safe
drinking water as their wells show a high degree of contamination with bacteria and viruses – the catalyst of various waterborne illnesses.
Rotary donated a unit
The Rotary Club Iloilo City decided to donate a solar-powered water treatment unit on the grounds of the Iloilo Doctor’s College of Medicine Foundation Partnership for Health Project to improve the health level and thereby the quality of life of the inhabitants.
A decentralised solution with the Trunz solar power centre (a compact photovoltaic system for electrification of rural areas) and the Trunz Water Box TWB 002 (water treatment unit) was installed and launched by Trunz Water Systems in October 2010. The unit provides the inhabitants of Ban-Ag daily with circa 15,000 liter clean and safe drinking water, powered with renewable energy and without any chemicals.
Water to acceptable prices
So as to put a value on clean and safe drinking water and to finance maintenance and spare parts, the members of the community are asked to buy the water at an affordable token price. This makes the system self-sustaining. Five gallons of water (18.9l) will be sold for 10 Philippine Pesos. This translates to €0.15 per 18.9l-container or €0.0079 per liter. It has been agreed that the pupils of the neighbouring Ban-ag Elementary
School as well as the students of the Doctor’s College get the water for free during their rural training units.