By Matt Jireh Tumlos

The Association of Chemistry Students of Central Philippine University launched “Pure Drops, Safe Sips” in Brgy. Bito-on, Jaro, Iloilo City, teaching residents practical water safety and quality monitoring through hands-on demonstrations and community engagement.

On February 14, the Association of Chemistry Students of Central Philippine University (ACS-CPU) conducted “Pure Drops, Safe Sips,” a water safety outreach program for the residents of Brgy. Bito-on, Jaro, Iloilo City.

The initiative aimed to empower the community to understand and monitor the quality of their water sources through lectures and demonstrations of basic testing methods, including pH, hardness, and turbidity.

Supported by 13 partner organizations, five private sector partners, barangay officials, and local health workers, the program promoted awareness of the importance of clean and safe water.

“I wanted to do this outreach as a way of giving back to the community and showing how chemistry connects to everyday life,” said Adilene Apostol, president of ACS-CPU.

She said that the activity highlighted how lessons learned in class can be applied to something as essential as household water safety.

“There were quite a few challenges, especially managing my time as a student leader while balancing studies and organizational responsibilities,” Apostol shared.

She added that typhoons forced several reschedulings; however, support from the BS Chemistry community allowed the outreach to push through.

“This outreach is very relevant to our program because one of the career paths for BS Chemistry graduates is quality control, and water safety is a significant part of that,” she explained.

Around 25 student volunteers facilitated the activity for about 50 residents under the coordination of Barangay Health Worker Bernadette Navigar, equipping attendees with practical recommendations to improve household water safety.