Pangilinan bill: Conserve, manage rainwater for other uses

This photo, taken on July 17, 2018, shows a flooded area on E. Rodriguez Avenue near the corner Araneta Avenue. The water is deep enough to allow some residents to use boats. Sen. Francis Pangilinan has filed a rainwater management bill that seeks to conserve rainwater and reduce its runoff to prevent flooding (File photo by JAM STA. ROSA / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Francis Pangilinan has filed a bill seeking to conserve rainwater for various uses and establish a plan for reducing its runoff to avoid flooding.

Pangilinan said Senate Bill No. 36 seeks to establish the “management, control, regulation and utilization of rainwater runoff, and the improvement of ecological characteristics of catchments to address flooding and water supply needs in urban and rural centers.”

Under the bill, landowners or developers of proposed commercial, industrial, and residential development or any residential multi-dwelling units of more than 1,000-square-meter land area will be required to submit a Rainwater Management Plan (RMP) which will look into the following considerations:

• topographic map of the area
• location of natural waterways, including banks and streams
• normal shoreline, coastlines, natural depression of flows
• discharge and volume of flows

The RMP shall also include a proposed Rainwater Management System (RMS) which seeks to “reduce the risk of downstream flooding by reducing the amount of runoff and regulating the discharge release at a given time.”

Further, the bill proposes that the rainwater be used for the following:

• rainwater for rural irrigation
• urban irrigation such as yard irrigation
• groundwater discharge
• firefighting
• nonpotable water supply source such as watering of plants, washing of cars or floor yards, flushing of toilets, fish pond ecological requirements

“It is the objective of this bill to conserve rainwater as well as reduce its runoff,” Pangilinan said.

Once the bill is signed into law, the Department of Public Works and Highways will be tasked to prepare the rainwater design manual.

Penalties will also be imposed on violators.

(Editor: Alexander T. Magno)