GMA orders agencies to avert water crisis

President Arroyo ordered yesterday the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and concerned government agencies to ensure the immediate implementation of measures to avert a possible shortage in water supply.

The President instructed Environment Secretary Elisea Gozun to coordinate with other heads of government agencies like the Department of Agriculture and the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) to work out a scheme of effective measures to prevent a crisis to develop in the country, especially with the onset of summer season in the country.

The instructions came after the DENR and the National Water Resources Board warned that the scant rainfall since October has greatly reduced the water level of the Angat water reservoir, the main water source of Metro Manila and other parts of Bulacan and Pampanga.

"There is no cause for alarm as the DENR, the Department of Agriculture, NIA and other concerned agencies have already teamed up to map out plans to help the farmers and have built extensive irrigation systems over the past two years and these will serve us in good stead," Mrs. Arroyo said.

"This also gives us more reason to continue to deliver clean water to the urban poor areas that need it most, but we must urge conservation in the face of the threat of a water crisis."

The alarm was sounded to avoid a water shortage and encourage the public to cooperate in the conservation of water.

"We have to see through the impact of this problem on the average Filipino and ensure that our communities are prepared," the President pointed out. "We have ample time to consolidate our plans and I ask for unity and cooperation among our people."

Early estimates showed that the reduction will affect the water supply of about 80,000 households or an equivalent of 480,000 people.

Mrs. Arroyo has launched the government’s program to provide clean potable water to households in a number of "waterless" Metro Manila urban poor areas.

The government, through the Manila Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), has put up water purifier centers in Payatas, Smokey Mountain and San Andres in Manila and in Commonwealth, Quezon City.