DON SALVADOR BENEDICTO – Gone are the days when residents and school children of Barangay Pandanon had to walk about half a kilometer through rough and steep terrain to fetch water.

Yesterday the Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation Inc., Coca Cola and the Earth Day Network Philippines installed a hydraulic ram pump at the Pandanon River that now brings water directly to the people of the barangay, saving them from back-breaking treks they had to endure in the past.

Che Idzenga, AIDFI regional project manager for Visayas, said, the ram pump provides an estimated 27,032 liters or 135 drums of water to 291 households per day in Brgy.Pandanon and to about 500 pupils of Pandanon Elementary School.

Using the power of the river flow, the ram pump literally pushes water uphill without any source of power, Idzenga said.

The project has 11 communal faucets installed in several areas of the barangay where households are clustered. Clustering is necessary so that they will be able to manage the flow and the amount of water they get from the water, he also said.

Judith Gregorio, 44, and a mother of eight, said that for 20 years, she had to walk about 500 meters from her home to the river to fetch water.

She said it had been very tiring and time-consuming, as she had to do it herself as her husband had to work, and her children were in school.

Now that the water supply is right in front of her house, Gregorio said, she can use her time taking care of her grandchildren.

Rogelio Turabelia, 33, said since he was six years old, he had been helping his mother with household chores and getting water from the river was his task.

He recalled that it was really difficult since he had to fetch water three times a day.

Turabelia and Gregoria said they are very thankful for the ram pump because they can now enjoy fresh and clean water right at their backyards.

Victor Manlapaz, project officer of Coca Cola Foundation-Philippines, said that Agos Ram Pump Project is designed to provide water systems to remote areas in the country where other forms of water systems are not possible.

He said they have already installed two ram pumps in Moises Padilla and Silay City in Negros Occidental and one in San Jose, Negros Oriental and a total of 13 in the entire country, he added.

The Agos project is part of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Coca Cola next year and they hope to install a total of 100 ram pumps all over the country, Manlapaz said.

Six more ram pumps will be installed in Negros Occidental in the cities of La Carlota, Kabankalan, Silay, and Sagay, and in Sta. Catalina, Negros Oriental, he addedd.

Meanwhile, AIDFI trained two local technicians in Pandanon who will take charge of the maintenance and repair of the ram pump and they also helped organize the water association of the barangay, Idzenga said.

A tree-planting activity was conducted in the barangay recently for watershed protection, and it will become a yearly activity of the members of the association, to maintain a balanced ecosystem in the area, he added.*LTG

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