Last week, Maynilad announced that starting this April, there will be longer daily service interruptions to save water in the Angat-Ipo system. It’s summer and they say El Niño is to blame. Everyone else is wondering why, when summer and even El Niño should be expected annually, the water service company is not able to prepare adequately for the inevitable. Aside from that, even during rainy days, there have been daily service interruptions in many of the areas they serve. It would be best to find a longer-term solution to this problem.
On the global front, the first UN Water Conference after 46 years took place in New York on March 22 to 24. Titled the “The United Nations Conference on the Midterm Comprehensive Review of the Implementation of the Objectives of the International Decade for Action ‘Water for Sustainable Development,’ (2018-2028),” the conference aimed to raise awareness about the global water crisis. The goal was for the participants to be able to decide on ways to achieve the internationally agreed objectives and come up with solutions for the crises of “too much water,” such as storms and floods; “too little water,” such as droughts and water scarcity; and “too dirty water,” such as polluted water.
Our global water system is in crisis. Billions of people lack access to safe and clean water; we know that so well even here in the Philippines. Since the first UN Water Conference in 1977, the world population has doubled. Demand for water rose alongside the increase in population. According to the UN, the UN 2023 Water Conference is “the most important water event” in a generation.
More than 10,000 people took part virtually or in person. There were 713 voluntary commitments filed by non-goverment organizations, governments, businesses, universities, and organizations like Unicef. These were collected into what is now being called the Water Action Agenda. There were many small pledges and few huge plans. Some of the themes that came up were the push for “nature-based solutions,” the need for inclusive management, and finance or how to fund the cause. The latter is linked to good governance and the effective use of funding.
Realistically, the world’s problems related to water will take much more than three days of speeches and presentations to solve. Everybody knows that, and so the conference participants left the meeting with hope and enthusiasm. They voted to create the position of UN Special Envoy for Water, to facilitate the conversation within the UN system, and to call regular high-level meetings to talk about water.
How might we translate the learnings from this conference to fuel our own local water projects? How can we emphasize the sense of urgency and inspire everyone—from the public to private sector, communities down to individuals—to take steps now, before it’s too late?