SORSOGON CITY, Philippines--Climate change is drying up the sources of water of rice farms in seven villages in the city's west district, provincial officials told farmers in a recent dialogue.

Siervo Manlangit, chief of the National Irrigation Association in Sorsogon, said Sorsogon is not the only province where communal irrigation systems are drying up.

The water sources dry because forests lack trees to hold water reserves, explained Manlangit.

Farmers earlier blamed the drilling project of the Philippine National Oil Company-Bacon Manito (PNOC-Bacman) geothermal power plant for the drying up of their water sources.

A representative of the farmers-irrigators' association, who was among those shown around the water sources at the power plant, observed the presence of live creeks near the drilling site.

"The flow of water is okay and there were live fishes as well," said Malou Yuson, Basud barangay councilor and board of director member of the Basud-Gimaloto-Ticol-Pocdol Irrigators' Association (BGTPIA), in an interview Friday.

In March, the BGTPIA, with the Guinlajon-Barayong-Bonglas Irrigators' Association (GBBIA), filed a petition to stop the drilling project at the Tanawon/Botong, an area upstream the site of the Cawayan communal irrigation system where barangays (villages) Basud, Gimaloto, Ticol, Capuy, Guinlajon, Barayong and Pamurayan get water for their farms.

"The water shortage is not confined to the city, but [is] a problem of the world due to climate change," said Gerry Bunao, PNOC-Bacman community partnerships department head.

He said the irrigators' associations should not jump into conclusions and lay the blame on the PNOC without any basis.