Empowering Water Education.
Raising awareness about the importance of Water, Wastewater, and the Environment.
This is Manila Water's Lakbayan.

The "Lakbayan" or Water Trail program aims to promote stakeholder awareness on the value of water and the need for wise use of water and proper wastewater management. Participants are exposed to the entire water cycle – from the raw water source, to the treatment process and distribution and up to wastewater treatment process. 

From the Filipino word "Lakbay" (Journey), Manila Water's Lakbayan program will bring you to a trip that you've never experienced before. This free half-day educational tour will give the participants an inside look to Manila Water's facilities, from the water treatment facilities where raw water is treated to become potable and safe for drinking,  to an actual sewage treatment plant where wastewater is treated before bringing it back to the rivers.

At the end of the program, the participants are expected to have a deeper understanding and appreciation of using water wisely, and how critical it is to revive our rivers, and gain knowledge as to what we can do to help in protecting our watersheds and the environment.

Over the years, Lakbayan has accommodated participants from all walks of life, from non-government organizations (NGOs), government agencies, local government units (LGUs), private companies, as well as foreign institutions. Students, both from public and private schools and colleges in Metro Manila have also been regular participants of the program and pledged their support in protecting the environment.

GUIDELINES

E-mail us at [email protected] for Lakbayan inquiries.

Toka Toka is the first and only environmental movement in the country that advocates proper management of wastewater (used water) in every household as an important share (or "toka") in reviving our rivers and waterways. Toka Toka believes that if this value shift happens in each household or sector, and is upheld actively by individuals and institutions, rivers and waterways will be freed from the vicious cycle of pollution.
 

WHAT IS TOKA TOKA ABOUT?

Solid waste segregation

Desludging every 5-7 years

Connecting to sewer lines

Educating the community

A joint project between Manila Water and founding partners, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and ABS-CBN Foundation, Toka Toka's goal is to move the people into embodying these four ownable acts:

1. Encouraging solid waste management and segregation;
2. Desludging of household septic tank every five years;
3. Connecting all households to a proper sewer line; and
4. Educating the community on proper wastewater management and the environment.

Since its inception in 2012, the program continues to foster and strengthen partnership with various NGAs, LGUs, and private sectors to further advance the movement. The following partners have committed into the movement and have developed various projects which revolves around the following:

Click to watch the Toka Toka Adventures video

Raising Awareness

1. Toka Pahayagans – Together with selected partner agencies, strategic locations were identified to install Toka Toka Pahayagans which contain messages of different tokas an individual can commit to, as well as the toka of the partner agency. (Partners: MMDA, DENR-EMB-NCR, DENR-CALABARZON, DENR-NCR, CAINTA, PASIG, ANTIPOLO, TAGUIG)
    
2. Toka Toka Presentations – Some partner agencies have incorporated the presentation of Toka Toka in some of their training programs and seminars such as Basic Pollution Control Officers Seminar (DENR-EMB-NCR) and to Barangay Assembly Days (DILG-CALABARZON)
    
3. Toka-Toka Goes to Cinemas – One partner agency, the city of Mandaluyong drafted a resolution to air Toka Toka Advocacy Ads in all cinemas in their jurisdiction for free to further raise public awareness of the movement.
    
4. Toka Toka Magazine – To further widen its reach, Toka Toka launched its info magazine in 2012 which contains info about wastewater and the different Tokas of partners as well as Tokas the readers can commit to. The info magazine is being donated to partner agencies to serve as additional reading material in their offices, or for distribution to participants of their seminars.

Strengthening Solid Waste Management

Aside from campaigning for proper waste segregation and disposal, Toka Toka has donated over 300 sets of trash bins to NGAs and LGUs to be turned over to their partner beneficiaries. Through the National Housing Authority, segregation bins were placed on strategic locations of relocation sites to encourage waste segregation from the relocatees.

Environmental Protection

1. Tree planting – Teaming up with various partners such as Rodriguez, Rizal Provincial Government, Pasig, DENR-NCR, MMDA, NHA and others, tree planting activities were organized, inviting an average of one hundred participants to promote greening in the country.
    
2. Waterway Clean-up – Whether it be river, creeks or bayside, Toka Toka has opened its doors to helping organize clean-up drives in various waterways to decrease the number of solid waste in it.
    
3. Desludging Caravan – Advocating the importance of regular desludging, Toka Toka with partner LGUs conducts desludging caravans to various barangays to help heighten the number of participating households.

Our Toka Toka Partners

Deepening the Commitment

In 2015, with many partners having completed its original commitments, Toka Toka launched Project Lingap Sapa. It is in coordination with various partners unit to develop a sustainable plan in rehabilitating creek tributaries of the three major river systems.

The project aims to create Toka-Toka Barangay Champions, communities that has a sense of ownership and responsibility in maintaining and preserving the waterway traversing them. A series of information education campaigns together with manual clean-ups and action planning with the council and the barangays were done for the project.

E-mail us at [email protected] for Toka Toka and Lingap Sapa inquiries.