NWRB exec calls for water conservation measures

A WATER management official called for the conservation of water resources as the Philippines continues to experience water stress as a result of the steady decline in available supply as demand expands.

Susan Abaño, policy chief of the National Water Resources Board (NWRB), said that based on the water stress index threshold, the Philippines has been under stress since 2007 as water availability continues to fall, at present dipping between 1,000 and 1,700 cubic meters (m3) per capita per year.

Abaño, in a water security update at the Philippine Water Challenge forum on November 17, noted that from 2,100 m3 per capita in 1995, water availability has decreased to 1,300 m3 per capita in 2020.

Water stress or scarcity occurs when demand for safe, usable water in a given area exceeds the supply.

Today, the country faces a host of challenges in the water sector including increasing population pressure, rapid urbanization, wasteful consumption, climate change, degradation of watersheds due to deforestation, water sector fragmentation and weak governance, Abaño said.

“We have so many water-stressed cities already, I think [there are] 33 highly urbanized cities and most of them are already under stress,” she said.

As of 2020, of the 33 highly urbanized cities, 16 are in the National Capital Region (NCR), while 17 are outside the NCR, according to Philippine Statistics Authority data.

Abaño said that to address these issues, the NWRB is implementing integrated water resource management, a process which promotes the coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources.

She also urged other government agencies, local government units, private institutions, nongovernment organizations and other stakeholders to extend the necessary cooperation for the successful implementation of the roadmap.

“Save water; only then will water save you,” she concluded.

At the same event, a water executive from Israel shared how her country was able to overcome the same water challenges currently plaguing the Philippines by implementing needed reforms, including the adoption of an integrated water management model.

Like the Philippines, Israel once had a “messy” water sector until the country began to implement in 2007 some key reforms that allowed the nation to achieve water security, said Tahel Brandes, senior deputy legal adviser of the Israeli Water and Sewage Authority.

The first initiative was to establish a one-stop shop that would regulate the whole industry, said Brandes.

The result of having different regulators for one sector was decades of consecutive crises including water pollution, water shortage, lack of overall planning, leaking infrastructure and environmental damages, he said.