BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The Negros Occidental Provincial Integrated Water Security Plan (PIWSP) has been approved during the First Provincial Integrated Water Security Council Organizational Meeting.
Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, who led the meeting last Friday, Sept. 16, said that in addition to this, another important function of the council is to approve and inform each of the 31 local government units (LGUs) in the province of their water security plan.
Lacson said the LGUs’ participation is also important in order for the province’s water security plan to work.
The creation of the PIWS Council and the City or Municipal Level Water Security Technical Group is an approach to more systematic and organized interventions to improve water security in the province, added the governor.
“Let us be reminded of the need for investments to achieve our water supply and sanitation targets, and the importance of PPPs in increasing sources of water,” the governor said.
The PIWSP will be utilized by the concerned LGUs in planning their water and sanitation plans and build on integrated water resource management to different policies and programs for water service provision and the management of watersheds in the province.
The provincial government, in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), launched the PIWSP last year, with the aim to further increase access to resilient water supply, improve water resource management, and strengthen water sector governance in the province.
PIWSP entails local water security roadmap that espouses the development principles and strategies of the Philippine Water Supply and Sanitation Master Plan./PN
