Avoidable Water Crisis

The irony of regularly confronting floods almost everywhere in our country while we are at the same time threatened by a looming water crisis is, at the very least, a challenge to our collective capabilities and willingness to avert a problem that we can mitigate or resolve.

My recent trip to Cebu made me more aware that the water supply problem is not only within Metro-Manila. This is the common dilemma in our urban cities as well as in our rural communities. The businessmen and political leaders of this vibrant Visayan gem intimated that they are deeply concerned with the water supply crisis being currently experienced in their province.

For one, there’s an impending 33 percent increase in their water rates. This is an additional P20 per cubic meter that will be an additional burden to the tight budgets especially of the low-income families. The bigger issue is the population increase of at least 7 percent which would require more local supply. As it is, Cebu needs a minimum of 160,000 cubic meters of new water supply on top of their present 400,000-cubic meter daily consumption. They have already resorted to the more expensive desalination plants to support the traditional deep wells and surface resources.

The whole country is in a silent water crisis.  It is unfortunate that an estimated three million Filipinos helplessly rely on unsafe water sources. And according to reports, more than 24 million of our countrymen lack access to improved water treatment and sanitation. This explains, as a consequence, why many suffer from water-borne diseases and life-threatening illnesses. In 2016 alone, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), one of the top 10 leading causes of death in our country was “acute watery diarrhea.” A staggering total of 139,000 lives were needlessly taken due to infections presumably from unsafe water.

To aggravate the serious lack of water sources, the trouble is worsened by the contamination from plants and factories that dispose untreated wastes directly to our river systems and lakes. The rampant non-compliance with the required waste treatment facilities of many commercial and industrial establishments complicate the vicious cycle that pollutes our meager water resources. Both the local and national government agencies that are responsible for the strict policy on sewage and treatment facilities’ standards are remiss on their mandate to protect the well-being of our citizens.

On the supply-side, we are beset with the annual dry season that usually lasts from six to eight months. This means that our extreme dependence on the natural supply of water is vulnerable, more so when the El Niño phenomenon would cause the unusual lesser rains and higher temperatures.

Droughts and longer dry spells have brought havoc to our agricultural sector. The already miserable economic conditions of our farmers have to endure more hardships when our dams could hardly provide enough irrigation for their crops.

The sad narrative continues when violent typhoons and relentless floods, sometimes earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, destroy and disrupt water supply infrastructure during the acute phase of natural calamities. The World Bank, in fact, has increased our insurance coverage for natural catastrophe to $390 million.

Our water security is plagued by insufficient water distribution network to serve 100 percent of our population, expensive water infrastructure, ongoing extreme weather systems and utter lack of dependable and sustainable supply.

Engineering solutions are needed to avoid or, at least, mitigate the crisis. True, we cannot control nature and its wrath. But we can take advantage of available technologies and capabilities that will provide for us a stronger capacity to serve our growing need for water for our households, energy, agricultural and industrial sectors.

We must significantly increase our water catchment facilities. The abundance of rains, at times torrential in volume, can be an asset. Singapore, for example, has been an expert on their water harvesting strategy due to their desperate situation where water importation has been their main source of water for decades. We can learn from other countries. For all we know, Filipino engineers built their catchment infrastructure.

We should build more dams to exponentially increase the volume of water that will be available for our increasing population and economic growth. On the side, with dams to be built in Sierra Madre, the annual inundations and swelling of the Marikina River will be effectively addressed too.

We must cease from heavily relying on unsustainable ground and surface water sources. Neither should we perpetually depend on the natural replenishments from the rain clouds.

Engineering solutions are available. We must put all our wits and strengths together to avert a national water crisis that can actually be prevented.