Residents in some of the country’s most isolated communities are now paying dramatically less for clean drinking water, with prices slashed by more than 50 percent under government programs tied to Executive Order 22 of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said its Water Resources Management Office (WRMO), created in 2023, is driving the change by directly installing water systems instead of just regulating supply.
In many remote barangays, the impact has been immediate. Areas served by local water districts now have on-site refilling stations, bringing the price of potable water down to just P15 per 5-gallon container—roughly half of what residents used to pay. These systems were rolled out last year in provinces such as Zamboanga del Sur, Lanao del Norte, Leyte, Negros Oriental, and Cagayan.
The gains are even more striking in island communities, where families once paid as much as P50 to P70 per container. Through the government’s water filtration program, costs have dropped to as low as P20 to P25. Communities in Romblon, Sorsogon, Occidental Mindoro, Bohol, and Zamboanga City are already benefiting, with new facilities now running in Bohol and Bulacan and more nearing completion in Palawan, Eastern Samar, and other areas.
Officials emphasized that these systems are designed to be sustainable, with barangays collecting small fees to fund operations and maintenance.
Beyond lowering costs, the DENR is also strengthening long-term water security. It has completed dozens of scientific surveys to pinpoint reliable groundwater sources, cutting risks for local projects and saving millions in technical costs. At the same time, new technologies like infiltration gallery systems are tapping naturally filtered river flows, already supplying water to tens of thousands of people. A national geospatial database is also being used to guide smarter planning for water and infrastructure projects.
Looking ahead, the government is scaling up the program even further. By the end of 2026, it aims to deliver safe water access to around 440,000 people nationwide, including more than 220,000 new beneficiaries this year alone. Plans include expanding filtration and desalination systems to dozens more barangays, extending water district services to underserved communities, and building new upland water systems that can also generate small-scale hydropower.
The DENR said the program marks a shift in its role—from regulator to active builder of water systems—aimed at ensuring that even the most remote communities have affordable access to safe drinking water.
