
On August 10, 2020, Legazpi City Water District’s (LCWD) GIS team demonstrated to the water district’s key officials the GIS competencies they acquired as a result of the technical assistance provided by USAID. This is the culmination of the series of trainings and workshops organized by USAID since March 2020 to improve LCWD’s water supply system management through the use of GIS. The GIS users demonstrated upgraded skills in QGIS (formerly Quantum GIS), an open source data application for mapping and data management. The GIS team also presented how GIS can enhance the operations of the organization and provide basis for data-driven decision making. The USAID-trained GIS users were grouped according to the water district’s core units (Engineering, Commercial, and Information Technology/Office of the General Manager) and showed thematic presentations utilizing the data of their respective office. The GIS users recommended the immediate adoption of GIS and the creation of a sound policy to support the implementation. To achieve this, the GIS team also emphasized the need to upgrade the water district’s hardware to facilitate easier mapping. As next step, LCWD will develop an information dashboard using GIS data to strengthen the coordination of information between the consumers and management.