EDITORIAL — An epic pail

With the super El Niño threatening to cause a long and pronounced drought some people are now taking precautions to make sure they will not have problems accessing water later on.

One solution the national government is promoting is for people to buy buckets to catch rainwater.

“Buy buckets so when it rains, you’ll collect the water. We will teach you…we’ll give you the filter. We’ll teach you how to do everything so you will not be sick and the treatment of water will be proper,” President Ferdinand Marcos said.

Some netizens have referred to this statement as an “epic pail”, obviously a pun and parody of the term “epic fail”. On a funny note, we can also say the president’s epic pail actually means a really huge bucket ideal for catching and storing rainwater.

That obvious bit of humor aside, we must not dismiss how serious the situation is.

Well, yes, catching and storing rainwater in buckets might be practical advice for individuals and small households. However, we hope that the national government really has substantial water plans in place for this super El Niño.

Because the problem won’t be just water for drinking.

Catching and storing rain in buckets certainly will not work for farmers with acres of crops to irrigate. This will not work for those who own small factories that need water to produce goods. This will not work for firefighters who have to rush to fire scenes expecting to tap into fire hydrants already there.

Actually, the list of those who need non-potable water includes all of us.

A study by the University of Chicago Climate Impact Lab projects that the super El Niño will cause over 451,000 additional heat-related deaths globally between June 2026 and February 2027.

In Southeast Asia, the death toll is expected to be 19,300 deaths in Indonesia, and a combined 19,400 deaths in Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia. So, yes, we can expect to be one of the countries hardest hit by this phenomenon.

Just filling up buckets with rainwater is not going to cut it.