Coca-Cola Brings Clean Water to 5,000 People in the Philippines

In December 2010, the Coca-Cola Foundation Philippines donated $100,000 to the Gawad Kalinga Community Development Foundation to bring clean water to 20 Gawad Kalinga villages nationwide, through rainwater harvesting facilities, water filtration and other methods.

The program will benefit 938 households -- approximately 5,000 beneficiaries -- in Santiago City, Isabela in Northern Luzon, Iriga City, Pascacao, Calabanga, Del Gallego in Camarines Sur, Tanjay City in Negros Oriental, and Hinunganan in South Leyte, among others.

The Gawad Kalinga Community Development Foundation was set up to beat poverty by nurturing and empowering communities, partly by encouraging residents to work with and take care of each other to achieve economic well being for the entire village. "Gawad Kalinga" means to "give care" in Tagalog.

For the villages where the nearest water source is some distance away, each family is given at least one rainwater harvesting tank, which has a capacity of 200 litres, as a source of clean water.

At the Gawad Kalinga Enchanted Farm in Barangay Enkanto, Bulacan, the grant went towards installing a solar-powered water filtration system to provide clean, potable water to over 48 households in the village. More panels will be added as the community grows in size.

Aside from improving the health and well-being of residents, providing clean water to the villages will help people achieve financial stability. At the Gawad Kalinga Mapahuisa Village in Tanjay City, Negros Occidental, the supply of clean water is helping the village maintain its agricultural program. Through the program, each family is responsible for a garden, and the produce is used for both personal consumption and to fund livelihood programs.

Some of the villages utilize green technology such as reed bed systems and biogas digesters. Wastewater from the community runs through a reed bed system and is treated by micro-organisms living in the roots, so it becomes clean effluent water. Biogas digesters break down solid waste and remove harmful bacteria to produce methane and carbon dioxide biogas that can be used as fuel for cooking and lighting.