Home 
ILOILO CITY, Philippines — Flood-hit communities still have no drinking water one month after Typhoon Frank devastated Iloilo.
“Most of our water sources were contaminated during the inundation,” said Guillermo Hisancha, vice mayor of Pavia, about nine kilometers west of the capital city, which was gravely hit by the calamity.
The June 22 flood contaminated almost all of municipalities’ water sources—from shallow wells, deep wells and even the facilities of the Metro Iloilo Water District.
Water for drinking in badly hit areas is currently sourced from treatment facilities on loan from other government agencies and private organizations. But the water these facilities provide is not enough to meet the needs of the townsfolk.
In Pavia, for example, 40 percent of the town's households have no access to potable water. Some residents in interior villages have to go to the town proper to get drinking water or buy bottled water, according to Hisancha.
However, potable water may soon be available in water-starved communities in Iloilo, particularly in flood-stricken towns. A water purifier has been developed by the Industrial Technology Development Institute (ITDI), one of the research and development institutes of the Department of Science and Technology. /Inquirer
