DENR-7 bares water saving tips

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 7 has bared five water saving tips that the public may do or practice at home as Cebu is celebrating the Water Conservation Month.

DENR-7 information officer Eddie Llamedo said that these water conservation measures include checking for plumbing leaks and reporting pipe leaks to the water concessionaires using water sparingly such as when brushing teeth and washing hands.

Other tips include using a pail and dipper instead of the shower when bathing or the hose when washing vehicles and gardening during cooler times of the day, reducing the frequency of doing the laundry, as well as hanging clothes to dry instead of prolonging the washing machine’s spin cycle.

It also suggested to utilize used water for other purposes such as dousing garden plants with water used in food preparation, and using soapy laundry water for vehicles.

DENR-7 through the Central Cebu River Basin Management Council with the Provincial Government of Cebu, and other private institutions organized the Cebu Water Conservation Month 2013 celebration with a theme “Water Security for a Sustainable Cebu”.

Meanwhile, DENR 7 Regional Executive Director, Dr. Isabelo Montejo, said that the people’s low regard in managing the country’s water resources is something that should be looked into by government agencies, private sectors and various stakeholders.

“Our country, at any given time, has 146 billion cubic meters of water available, however we are treating it like a free resource, we are throwing water away every second, and we fail or ignore to manage it properly,” said Montejo in a statement.

Montejo also underscored that despite the abundance of water in the Philippines, not much of it is available for public consumption because of problems in catching and keeping the water such as through water impounding systems, lack of infrastructure, especially for irrigation and pollution of water bodies.

“Every day we are adding more pressures to our water bodies like polluting them due to rapidly growing population resulting to increased economic activities,” Montejo said.

“These things should move us to action amid a scarcity of freshwater,” he stressed.  (FREEMAN)