Water+Rescources+Management+in+the+Philippines

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Being an archipelago of islands, the Philippines is abundant in water resources. Unfortunately, amidst the abundance of water, there is a problem in terms of water accessibility to the country. According to Barbara (n.d.), there’s an assessment in 1995 which indicates that only 69% of the population has access to clean and potable water. The remaining 31% gathers water from unreliable sources. The fundamental objective of Water management, stated by Pascual (n.d.), is “to supply water where and when it is needed”. Unfortunately, he added that officials see water management as to increase the water distribution without considering the idea of water conservation. Water pollution is one main problem as to the decrease of accessible clean water. The act of water pollution results not only from manmade activities but also from natural disasters. Barbara (n.d.) believes that flashfloods, El Nino. These natural occurrences threaten the water levels of the reservoir and the dams. Aside from these natural disasters, manmade activities along the water shed causes erosion and siltation in the water shed, rivers and lakes. Contributing to the natural occurrence are manmade actions such as the misuse of land due to the population growth. According to Barbara (n.d.) domestic sewage contributes about 52% of population load while industries take the remaining 48%. Lastly, the salt-intrusion contributes to the amount of clean and drinkable water available. Barbara enumerated 10 challenges of the Philippine government in water resource management, but only three challenges or problems might interest the information technology field. The three challenges are the following:

** Fragmented management – ** Barbara stated that there are about 30 government agencies working independently or separately who works on water supply, irrigation, hydropower, flood control, pollution, watershed management, etc. This large number of government departments and agencies that act separately can produce conflicts and overlap of work.

** Lack of water allocation formula – ** Barbara pointed out the increase of population, water pollution, lack of infrastructure and dry spells contributes to the allocation problem of water. There is a need for educating the community the value of water conservation to reduce water pollution and excessive water consumption. The poor planning of water allocation may hinder the citizens access to clean water.

** Outdated framework plans and research – ** According to Barbara, there is an idea of creating a water management information system to share information among the 30 government agencies working on water management fields. Unfortunately, this plan or proposal needs to be updated which the government agencies haven’t paid much attention on.

Given these facts, it is evident that water pollution is the main reason which prohibits people from being able to access clean water. The sources of water in the urban, suburban and probably some rural areas will be the dams and water sheds/reservoir. Though limiting the water care from these areas may not solve the problem. The rivers, ocean, lakes, etc. contributes to these water sheds through filling these water sources with water. Polluting other water sources will still affect our water sheds and dams.

Science and Technology education has been incorporated in the curriculum here in the Philippines, and water conservation has been taught as early as the 3rd grade. In addition to the water conservation, water cycles and bodies of water are also being taught in addition to the water conservation. Unfortunately, the education about water stops there. Environmental issues of water management isn't taught until college. Few of the people here in the Philippines can afford quality college educations, thus depriving them of information about the real problem on water management. To further inform the communities of problem of water management, there should be a group of people in the community who will safeguard the water sanitation, handling and usage in the vicinity. The purpose of the community representatives is to remind the people on the importance of water. The work will be passed down from generation to generation and these people will act as reminders of the importance of water management.

References

Barbara, P. //The Challenges of Water Resource Management in the// Philippines [PDF document]. Retrieved from Water Resources Research Center Web site: http://www.wrrc.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~aphw/APHW2004/proceedings/JSE/56-JSE-A519/56-JSE-A519.pdf Pascual C. M. //Towards Sustainable Water Resources Management in the Philippines: Challenges and Issues to Secure Water for All// [Powerpoint Slides]. Retrieved from Water Resources Research Center Web site: http://www.scj.go.jp/ja/event/pdf/70-k-1-6.pdf