Death due to diseases from poor sanitation is a serious global issue and it has become one of the priorities of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (i.e., SDG6). This SDG6 aims to provide adequate improved sanitation facilities to over 2.3 billion people around the world who have no or limited access to sanitation, wherein more than two-thirds of these un-served people live in rural areas. One of the strategies for addressing this global issue is through emerging sustainable sanitation technologies such as the Eco-Toilet System (ETS), which uses small amounts of water or is even waterless and recovers nutrients from human waste thereby promoting water-energy conservation, improved sanitation and supplement nutrients essential to plant growth. Social acceptance, however, remains a key barrier in deploying the ETS. A social perception study on the use of the ETS was conducted in a rural community in Mulanay, Philippines. The researchers analyzed the proposed combined technology acceptance model and theory of planned behavior (C-TAM-TPB) using multiple linear regression and the Mann-Whitney U-test to evaluate the perceptions and attitudes of a rural community towards the use of the ETS. The results showed that more than 50% of the respondents are aware of the nutrient value of human excreta and believe that it is usable as fertilizer; however, less than 25% prefer to utilize it for food production. Results also indicate that the behavior of the users is driven by their attitude (β = 0.420, p-value < 0.010). Moreover, the Mann-Whitney U-test results revealed that people who are knowledgeable of the nutrient value of human excreta and are willing to collect them have more positive attitude towards the ETS.

The Integrated Water System (IWS) offers alternative water and sanitation services that can potentially benefit rural communities experiencing water scarcity. The IWS described in this study comprises three systems: The Rainwater Harvesting System (RWHS), Water Treatment System (WTS), and Eco-Toilet System (ETS). RWHS and WTS make use of rainwater, which can be utilized for several domestic uses, especially during wet season. ETS has several benefits to users including promotion of environmental and public health, as well as food security. Despite the potential benefits of the IWS components, the perceived acceptance of its users threatens the success of its implementation. This study focuses on determining the significant factors that can influence the social acceptance of IWS in the Municipality of Mulanay, Quezon Province, Philippines. This study considers behavioral intention as an indicator of social acceptance of the IWS components. The framework of this study is based on the combined technology acceptance model and theory of planned behavior (C-TAM-TPB) concept. C-TAM-TPB was analyzed using Partial Least Square–Structural Equation Modeling (PLS–SEM). The result of the C-TAM-TPB evaluation reveals that the user’s attitude towards use (ATU), including its significant predictors, can promote behavioral intention towards use of the IWS components. This study can further improve the development of IWS projects.

Quick recovery of water services immediately after an earthquake is critical. This is to minimize hazards to environmental sanitation and consequent health problems caused by the lack of potable water supply. It is necessary therefore that water lifeline operators establish restoration strategies to deal with damage scenarios in their respective concession areas specifically during extreme seismic events. The recent 6.7 magnitude earthquake in Surigao City due to the movement of the Philippine Fault Zone: Surigao segment underscored this need. However due to the complexity of the network a systematic restoration sequence that minimizes restoration time and maximizes delivery of water service should be employed. In this research, the authors employed Horn's algorithm to determine the optimal restoration strategy of a pipeline network in Surigao City, Philippines. The repair sequence starts with the determination of a minimal spanning tree of the given pipeline network. The water source is designated as the root of this tree while the nodes represent the water demand at specific areas. The edges of the tree structure representing the pipelines connect the nodes. The assigned numeric value or weight of an edge (link) denotes the time to repair that specific pipeline. This value is a function of the length of the pipeline. The results show that an optimal job sequence may be carried out by considering maximal ratios of expanding family trees within the network. A least penalty function is a consequence of the optimal repair job sequence.

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