DOH AND DENR AWARDS WATER SAFETY PLAN CERTIFICATE TO CWD
The Department of Health (DOH) and Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) awards the Certificate of Water Safety Plan (WSP) Acceptance to Casiguran Water District (CWD) on September 26, 2019 at Hotel H2O, Manila on the occasion of DOH’s national celebration of World Environmental Health Day (WEHD) 2019 with the theme: “Malusog na Kapaligiran, Sandigan ng Tunay na Kaunlaran.”
The celebration of WEHD is the first official celebration in the Philippines after President Rodrigo Roa Duterte signed Proclaimation No. 595, declaring September 26 as World Environmental Health Day.
The WSP of CWD was approved in compliance with the requirements for acceptability pursuant to DOH’s Administrative Order No. 2017 – 0006 entitled: Guidelines for the Review and Approval of the Water Safety Plans of Drinking-Water Service Providers.
The said certificate of WSP Acceptance was given by DOH Assistant Secretary Maria Rosario S. Vergeire and DENR Undersecretary Jonas R. Leones to CWD as represented by GM Eduardo P. Tejada, Ralph Louie H. Rafer and Norman Habla. Also present during the awarding were LWUA’s Deputy Administrator Juanito Pagulayon and Actress Antoinette Taus.
The DOH considers water as a health issue. Thus, the Department requires every water provider to come up with a Water Safety Plan that will assure the quality of water from source to tap.
The preparation of the District’s WSP was a long and tedious process. It was prepared not only to comply with the requirements of DOH and LWUA but also to assure the welfare of the District’s water consumers.
The Secretary of the Department of Health issued Administrative Order 27 dated September 4, 2014, entitled: National Policy on Water Safety Plan (WSP) for all Drinking-Water Service Providers. The AO recognized that despite high coverage of water supply, a lot of Filipinos are still exposed to unsafe water, due to human activities and natural events, resulting to outbreaks of waterborne diseases in different part of the country. It also enunciated that the DOH, in accordance with its mandate of being primary responsible for the formulation, planning and implementation and coordination of policies and programs in the field of health, strongly supports the application of a risk management approach, known as Water Safety Plan, by all water-service providers. In support of the objectives of the Department of Health (DOH) in its declaration as “national policy for drinking-water quality management . . the development and implementation of WSP by all drinking-water service providers” and in compliance to DOH AO 2014-007 dated 4 September 2014, the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) issued memorandum Circular 010.14, dated December 1, 2014.
Safe water is essential to life. Without it, life will be impossible for human beings. The right to safe water clearly places the responsibility to the government. Thus, the Casiguran Water District, being an agent of the government, serving as a water utility for 31 long years, is duty bound to exert maximum effort to enhance that security measures if only to assure the safety of its concessionaires.