Drinking water

DAVAO CITY – Three regions in Mindanao recorded the most number of households with least access to improved sources of drinking water, the 2017 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) of Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed. A report released by PSA in Davao Region stated that the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) had the least improved water source among the country’s 17 regions at 70.9 percent, while Zamboanga Peninsula at 90.8 percent, and Davao Region, 91.8, were the 15th and 13th least improved, respectively. The report said Cordillera Administrative Region (84.6 percent) was at 16th and Bicol Region (91.3) at 14th. The most improved was National Capital Region (NCR) at 99.5 percent, PSA said. The survey added that at least 95 percent of households in the country use an improved source of drinking water. Compared with urban households at 98 percent, the PSA said only 93 percent of the rural households reported using improved source of drinking water. (Antonio L. Colina IV)