Buhisan watershed in bad shape DENR demands P30M from MCWD

The Buhisan watershed is under imminent threat of destruction and the government wants the MCWD, which operates the Buhisan dam, to pay up to P30 million in environmental protection fees to help restore the crucial water source.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources yesterday called a press conference to call attention to the state of the Buhisan watershed. In the conference, experts raised the " red alert " on the 630-hectare protected area encompassing seven Cebu City barangays, saying at least 15 hectares have already been destroyed due to " illegal activities. "

Dioscoro Melana, regional technical director for the Protected Areas Wildlife and Coastal Zone Management Services of the DENR, said his office already sent a collection letter to MCWD three years ago but the water firm refused to pay up, saying it already has developed a program meant to rehabilitate the watershed.

The Buhisan watershed is one of the critical sources of water in Cebu although the Buhisan dam itself only supplies 5,000 cubic meters out of the 153,000 cubic meters that MCWD is able to generate from all its sources daily. Most of the water produced by MCWD comes not from surface water but from deep wells.

The MCWD, however, still falls far short of 250,000 cubic meter demand in Metro Cebu daily.

Negotiations are underway to have private sources tap resources outside Metro Cebu and sell water to MCWD but these negotiations have been mired in controversy.

The Buhisan dam was built in 1911and was operated by the Osmena Waterworks System, the forerunner of MCWD. It used to store up to 10,000 cubic meters but siltation has severely cut that capacity.

Last month, Melana said he again sent another collection letter to the MCWD, intending to use part of the money - some P60,000 - to fund a soil study on the Buhisan watershed but the water firm reportedly did not reply.

Melana said under the National Integrated Protected Areas System or NIPAS Act of 1992, water firms like the MCWD are supposed to pay P1 for every cubic meter of water it gets from watersheds to the DENR through its Protected Areas Management Board.

The money is supposed to go to the Environmental Protection Fund for use in protecting and rehabilitating watershed areas.

MCWD general manager Armando Paredes acknowledged receiving the collection letter three years but said the firm sought reconsideration, saying " we contributed already to the watershed through our reforestation program in the area. "

He also admitted that under the NIPAS Act, the MCWD is indeed mandated to pay the evironmental protection fee but cited some exemptions, like the case of the Zamboanga City Water District which was exempted because of its having its own program to protection its water sources.

" Instead of paying environmental protection fees, we will just implement our own program. Under the NIPAS Act, we are required to pay but there are exemptions. We are doing our part to protect the watershed, " Paredes said.

" If you read the NIPAS law, the fund will go to the IPAS Fund. They could not use it immediately and we are not guaranteed that the whole amount will go to the watershed because they still have to propose a project before the fund would be released. That's why we prefer to implement our own program there directly, " he said.

As to the P60,000 Melana asked to fund the soil study, Paredes said the MCWD board has agreed to provide the money.

In a presentation on the state of the Buhisan watershed, Socorro Atega, chairwoman of the Central Cebu Protected Landscape Information Communication and Education Committee, said a red alert has been declared over the area because of rampant illegal activities that destroyed it.

With the destruction of the watershed, Atega said the dam is also threatened because runoff and soil erosion shortens its lifespan. ( /JST )