The country has been experiencing temperatures exceeding 30 degrees and the weather bureau is telling us to brace for temperature surges of up to 40 to 50 degrees. My what intolerable heat makes water availability the most pressing concern of everyone.
Technically we only have wet and dry season and even before the dry season began those residing within the concession area of Maynilad Water Services Inc. have been experiencing tight to no supply, how much more these scorching days. With Manila Water this is still not a problem.
With evaporation of rivers and other water bodies expected to be fast, dams and other reservoirs would have levels reaching below normal, or worse lower than critical levels, as has happened through the years.
Since our dams and reservoirs have multiple uses—irrigation for farms, energy for hydro power plants and potable water for households and businesses—there is always a tug-of-war on who gets a bigger allocation from these drying sources. The usual sacrificial lamb is irrigation—for farms—ergo declining rice and other crops production and next is potable water (so there are millions of thirsty and angry residential users who would be cursing the government) and the most favored is hydropower plants for electricity.
People, however, find water more important than electricity which is why complaints and loud angry rants fill the social and traditional media spaces each year.
Like clockwork, government leaders make all the right noises in calling for a coordinated response to this challenge, proffering master plans and new agencies as the solution to a problem that has seemed to defy solution year in and year out.
President Marcos has warned that the country is facing a water crisis which threatens not only the Philippine economy but society as a whole, adding that the required response to this situation has been “continually postponed.”
Unless the current leadership does things differently this time around, it is in danger of ending up like all other administrations before it: Kicking the water crisis can down the road with the minimum required response and letting future leaders tackle future editions of the water shortage while Filipinos suffer dry taps during the hottest months of the year, said an Inquirer editorial.
Efforts to tap new water sources have been opposed by vigilant environmentalists, decrying the harm new dams would cause and local communities lamenting the loss of their ancestral domain.
These concerns are valid, but urgent solutions must be secured for the needs of millions of Filipinos for clean water and for the efficient functioning of the nation.
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Government, with private sector, must find new sources of water like new dams with as little harm to their surroundings and offsetting mechanisms like reforestation programs be put in place to mitigate the damage.
Affected indigenous communities should be relocated, offered alternative forms of livelihood, and compensated for their sacrifice of offering their land so that millions more of their fellow citizens are able to survive and function efficiently in their day-to-day lives.
Water utilities, as mandated by their contracts, are investing in and building their supply capacities so that they can meet rising demand for potable water.
Consumers should be less complaining about water rate hikes because these are needed to finance the construction of new treatment plants and pipe networks. And regulators should carefully balance the interests of water concessionaires and consumers.
The National Water Resources Board said 11 million Filipinos lack access to clean water. In a country surrounded by bodies of water, blessed with large watersheds (deforestation notwithstanding) and rain that falls inevitably and abundantly after the dry seasons, it is unacceptable that one in every 10 of our nation’s citizens does not have sufficient supply of this essential resource for drinking, cooking, bathing, and cleaning.