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Water
testing lab here
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Boholanos
no longer need to go to the next province of Cebu to
have their water samples chemically and microbiologically
tested: a new complete laboratory at the Holy Name University
(HNU) of Tagbilaran City can now run complete tests.
Gov.
Erico Aumentado inaugurated the laboratory at the fourth
floor of the HNU main building along Lesage Street recently.
With
the water laboratory, Aumentado said HNU has now become
Bohol's center of excellence in education, research
and outreach.
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AUMENTADO |
"Many
contagious illnesses are water-borne. This underscores the
importance of the services of a water-testing laboratory in
order to expeditiously identify the microbes causing an outbreak
so that physicians can prescribe antidotes and medicines accordingly
with dispatch and minus the guesswork," the governor
observed.
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The
laboratory can assess water sources as well to guide
public utilities and the provincial government in general,
to put into operation the security and safety of the
people.
"I
am confident that this will be one outstanding accomplishment
of HNU WATERSS," he said.
The
project also strengthens the bilateral relations between
the Philippines and Australia through the Australian
Agency for International Development (AusAID) - now
the country's No. 1 donor of poverty reduction projects
and activities.
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He
recalled that AusAID was also there when the province first
developed the Local Poverty
Reduction Action Program (LPRAP), now called the Provincial
Database Monitoring System (PDMS), also under the aegis of
HNU.
The
university, he said, is a strong pillar in the partnership
of the provincial government and the private sector.
The
WATERSS brochure says it aims to establish and operate an
accredited and registered water testing laboratory, develop
a management information system for efficient dissemination
of information, provide awareness-building activities for
active participation of an informed public in water quality
management and monitoring and develop linkages towards consultation
and cooperation functions for resource pooling and policy
advocacy.
The
objectives are responsive to the Bohol Medium-Term Development
Plan (2004-2009) and the Bohol Agricultural Master Plan (2006-2026)
where protection,
rehabilitation
and conservation of water resources has been identified as
priority program as it directly influences the attainment
of economic, social and infrastructure development goals and
set to contribute to the eradication of poverty in Bohol,
it added.
The
laboratory can conduct physical tests - color, odor, temperature
and pH; chemical tests - ammonia, nitrate, phosphorous and
dissolved oxygen, as well as microbiological tests - total
coliform, E. coli, fecal coliform and total dissolved solids.
To
note, the HNU Research Center conducts regular Bohol polls
including pre-election surveys that have successfully predicted
national and local election results.
As
the Bohol Polls also checks for graft and corruption in government,
Aumentado said his governance has been guided by the survey
results.
The
polls identified the offices that allegedly asked for bribe
money.
"I
have taken a strong position [on the survey results] even
if not one office of the Provincial Government of Bohol was
named graft-ridden. I wrote strongly-worded letters to the
mayor and the chiefs of the national government agencies concerned
and demanded that they shape up," he said.
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