We take water supply for granted until summer and drought are upon us, the water in our dams dip to red-alert level, and then panic
sets in.
Like power supply, which we discussed in our earlier column, water supply is a national priority concern that requires way-ahead planning and management. So we bring it to the attention of the incoming new administration.
Very recently, Prof. Stuart White, director of Sustainable Futures of the University of Technology, Sydney, has warned that “the Philippines is at risk of massive water shortage even after El Niño passes, because of inadequate policies to govern water use in the face of expanding roads, housing projects, malls and other infrastructure” (Estrella Torres @inquirer.net, April 15, 2016).
The warning was a call to balance water supply and demand, to meet infrastructure development, an equally national priority concern.
Well, who is in charge here?
It’s the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) whose chairman is the secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the mother government line agency. From the NWRB web site, we find these following declarations:
NWRB mandate:
The NWRB is the government agency that is responsible for all the water resources in the Philippines. It coordinates and regulates all water-related activities in the country that has impact on the physical environment and the economy.
Vision: Water for all.
Mission:
- To ensure access to safe, adequate water supply and sanitation at acceptable rates and levels of service;
- To allocate sufficient water that will ensure food security and spur economic development of the country; and
- To protect the water environment in order to preserve flow regimes, biodiversity and cultural heritage, as well as to mitigate water-related hazards.
Should we feel complacent since there’s an oversight agency like the NWRB? What is the state of water resources in the Philippines anyway?
A Greenpeace October 2007 post reports that “Overall, the Philippines’s total available freshwater resource is at 145,900 MCM/year, based on 80-percent probability for surface water, and groundwater recharge or extraction at 20,000 MCM/year.
“Theoretically, the freshwater storage capacity and the high rate of precipitation assure the country an adequate supply for its agricultural, industrial and domestic uses.
However, seasonal variations are considerable and geographic distribution is biased, often resulting in water shortages in highly populated areas, especially during the dry season.”
For some details to guide our planning, the Philippines Environment Monitor 2003 estimates total water-resources potential in MCM (groundwater plus surface water) by region, e.g., with Northern Mindanao showing highest water-resources potential (water availability) at 31,116 MCM and Central Visayas lowest at 2,939 MCM.
But the not-so-happy note is that “Data from the Jica [Japan International Cooperation Agency] master plan on water-resource management in the Philippines estimate that only 1,907 cubic meters of freshwater would be available to each person each year, making the Philippines second to the lowest among Southeast Asian countries with freshwater availability.”
In fact, there are some area-specific dire predictions. By 2025, water-availability deficit would take place in several river basin, such as in Pampanga and Agno, Pasig-Laguna, Cagayan Valley, all other regions in Luzon, Jalaur and Ilog Hilabangan, and in the island of Cebu.
The NWRB has already identified nine water-critical urbanized areas where water is consumed intensively, namely, Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, Davao, Baguio City, Angeles City, Bacolod City, Iloilo City, Cagayan de Oro City and Zamboanga City.
The NWRB has also identified some major problems concerning water use and scarcity:
n Water resources are unevenly distributed throughout the country, often resulting in water shortages in highly populated areas, especially during the dry season.
n Lack of water allocation foments conflicts in use and water allocation, e.g., the Angat Reservoir when Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System withdraws water over and above its existing water rights
n High water loss due to leaking pipes and illegal connections
n Depletion of groundwater resources from indiscriminate groundwater extraction resulting in salt-intrusion—e.g., in Metro Manila, Cavite, Iloilo and Cebu.
Here’s a peripheral but sobering observation. One third of the world’s population does not have access to clean drinking water, which is more than 2.3 billion people. A further 1.6 billion people live in areas experiencing water scarcity. An author/researcher (Barba, 2005) has reported that “there are over 30 government agencies and departments separately dealing with water supply, irrigation, hydropower, flood control, pollution, watershed management, etc. It is this fragmented approach to water-management, which causes an overlap of work and conflicts among agencies and results in fractional water-management plan that does not adequately meet the requirements for sustainability.”
It’s been labeled fragmented management. All this information I picked out from an Internet-sourced laptop research, and have just assembled them together to bring to the reader’s attention, and perhaps, to someone in government authority who can be minded to initiate the bolder steps needed to address our water-supply concerns.
For now, let’s take comfort that the NWRB has, in its 2016 budget spending, come out with clear key strategies: (1) Formulation of water policies responsive to the changing environment, society and climate; (2) Development of science-based decision support tools integrating climate change and the principle of Integrated Water Resources Management; (3) Strict implementation of laws and policies; and (4) Development of strong coordination and collaboration with partner agencies/institutions (i.e. local government units, nongovernmental organizations and academe) toward achieving sustainable use of water.