With one-fourth of the country reeling from drought, a lawmaker on Sunday asked local government units (LGUs) and community organizations to tap the P2-billion People’s Survival Fund (PSF) to build rainwater- harvesting systems.
House Deputy Minority Leader and LPG-MA Rep. Arnel Ty said communities and LGUs could adopt as a model Bhagwati Agrawal’s “River from the Sky”—a simple yet sustainable rainwater-harvesting system that now provides safe drinking water to more than 10,000 people in Rajasthan, India.
According to Ty, the scheme is a network of rooftops, gutters, pipes and underground reservoirs that collect and store the monsoon rains, which fall from July to September. It now provides clean water to six villages all year long in one of the driest areas of India.
“To fight prolonged freshwater shortages during severe dry spells, communities would do well to put up simple rainwater collectors using money from the PSF,” said Ty, a member of the House Science and Technology committee.
Ty added rainwater stockpiles can also supply farmers extra water for irrigation throughout arid conditions.
Earlier, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said that 24 percent of the country, or 19 provinces, are likely to suffer drought—defined as “three consecutive months of way below-normal rainfall condition, or greater than 60-percent reduction from average rainfall.”
The agency said the 19 provinces facing drought are Palawan, Negros Oriental, Siquijor, Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, Bukidnon, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Occidental, Davao del Sur, South Cotabato, North Cotabato, Sarangani, Sultan Kudarat, Basilan, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.
Pagasa said another 13 provinces are likely to endure a dry spell, defined as “three consecutive months of below-normal rainfall condition, or 21-percent to 60-percent reduction from average rainfall.”
The 13 provinces are Benguet, Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Zambales, Rizal, Occidental Mindoro, Bohol, Camiguin, Misamis Oriental, Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte and Agusan del Sur.
Meanwhile, the PSF is a special annual fund in the National Treasury that finances climate-change adaptation and natural disaster- resilience strategies.
Established by Republic Act (RA) 10174, the PSF supplements the yearly funding earmarked by national agencies and LGUs for programs and projects meant to build up the capability of communities to cope with harsh weather conditions.
The PSF is run by the People’s Survival Fund Board, composed of the heads of the departments of Finance, Budget and Management, and the Interior and Local Government, National Economic and Development Authority and the Philippine Commission on Women, the vice chairman of the Climate Change Commission, and one representative each from the scientific community, the business sector and non-governmental organizations.
Also, Ty has filed a resolution calling for an inquiry into the unusually sluggish execution of the 27-year-old Rainwater Collector and Springs Development Law of 1989 that requires the Department of Public Works and Highways to construct rainwater collectors in all barangays countrywide.
“Now more than ever, we should all work harder to give greater meaning to the Rainwater Collector and Springs Development Law of 1989, or RA 6715,” he said.