National water roadmap pushed
Speaking at the Water Challenge Forum in Cebu City on Thursday, Dr. Ernie Ordoñez, secretary general of the National Water Roadmap and Summit 2017, said the national roadmap would culminate during the National Water Summit come June in Manila.
Ordoñez said the summit aims to gather industry stakeholders to tackle issues concerning the water sector and the crisis foreseen in the future.
He also raised the need for the government to establish a Department of Water, which should be the governing body for the water industry.
He noted the Office of the President is deeply involved in addressing the water crisis.
Talks on the crafting of a national roadmap for the water sector started in January this year.
The initial lead convenor for the legislature is Sen. Loren Legarda.
Legates had stressed the need to consolidate all water agencies in the country and craft a roadmap for sustainable water use.
It was last January 20 when Legarda, chair of the Senate Committee on Climate Change, convened with former Environment secretary Gina Lopez and Ordoñez in a meeting in Malacañang for the National Water Summit and drafting of a Water Sector Roadmap.
"Water is a very basic need yet we still have communities in the country that have no access to clean and potable water. The continued overlapping and fragmented regulation of water supply services in the country by several government entities is one factor that hinders the enactment of a doable and long-term solution to prevent water shortage," she had said.
Water is considered a very valuable resource because while 71 percent of the Earth is covered by water, 97 percent of this is ocean water, 2.5 percent is frozen water and only 0.5 percent is suitable for human consumption.
A study by the World Resources Institute revealed that the Philippines will likely experience severe water shortage by 2040 due to the combined impact of rapid population growth and climate change.
Furthermore, the Philippines ranks 57 out of 167 countries that are highly vulnerable to severe water shortage.
"Water also affects our food security as agriculture accounts for much of our water consumption, which makes it vital for us to protect our watersheds. The issue of open defecation is likewise a national sanitation and health issue, which can be addressed if all Filipinos have access to clean water," Legarda said.
Data from the Department of Health shows that around 8 million Filipinos still openly defecate as they have no access to sanitary facilities.
The senator had also called for the stricter implementation of the Rainwater Collection and Harvesting Act which requires the building of catchments in homes and public and private buildings, so that rainwater can later be used for cleaning, watering gardens, and other industrial purposes.
"Water is a human right and the State must ensure that the water in our lakes, rivers and other sources of freshwater reaches our faucets and is fully maximized. Every citizen must have access to potable water but this must be sustained in the long term. In order to achieve this, we must reform the water industry itself and lay down a roadmap to ensure water security for the country," she said.
Water security is not only about the provision of sufficient water for the needs of people and economic activities, it is also about having healthy ecosystems and building resilience to water-related disasters, including storms, floods and droughts.
Extreme weather events, such as intense or more frequent rains and increasing number of hot days, along with weak resource management are factors that lead to low water security.
According to the Asian Water Development Outlook (AWDO), a joint report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Asia-Pacific Water Forum (APWF), water insecurity in the region is caused primarily by inappropriate management practices rather than physical scarcity of water.
To address this, the AWDO developed a water security framework based on five key dimensions for household, economic, urban, environmental, and resilience to water-related disasters. Low water security in these key dimensions can cause economic damages equivalent to up to 2 percent of the GDP.
Water management resources in the Philippines improved in the past three years.
In 2013, the country scored 35 in the National Water Security (NWS) Index; it increased to 40.4 in the 2016 report. However, of the 5 NWS stages, the Philippines is still at number 2 or Engaged, which means that more than half the people have access to modest drinking water and sanitation facilities; water service delivery is starting to develop, supporting economic activities; first measures are taken to improve water quality; and first attempts are being made to address water-related risks.
For a country that is likely to experience severe water shortage by 2040 due to the combined impact of rapid population growth and climate change, the Philippines must give utmost priority to improving its water security. (FREEMAN)
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