DENR says water scarcity, pollution a threat for nation

MANILA, Philippines — There is a real fear that the Philippines, a country surrounded entirely by water, would not have enough of it in the future.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said a scarcity of water could pose a problem for the Philippines, which would be grappling with polluted water sources and stresses like population growth and development.

The DENR will host later this week the country’s first international river summit in Iloilo City. Some 900 scientific experts and river managers from around the Philippines and other countries are expected to discuss the effective management of rivers and river basins.

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said the country had 421 principal river basins and, as an archipelago, had control over 479 billion cubic meters of ground and surface water.

Paje said that theoretically, this should be enough to sustain the country’s economic development and ecological needs at any given time, yet stresses posed by population growth resulting in increased economic activity and pollution could mean “the danger of a scarcity of water supply.”

Stressors such as water pollution due to improper waste disposal and sedimentation from indiscriminate land development, the over-extraction of water resources, and flooding in low-lying areas had led to poor water quality in many countries. Various government agencies are also in conflict when it comes to water management, he said.

“In many places around the world, rivers act as convenient dumping grounds for waste. Many of these rivers, once teeming with aquatic life, are now either biologically dead or dying,” he said.

“We all need to accept our responsibilities as stewards of rivers not only as waterways or water sources but also as habitats and ecosystems, and be willing to undertake the laborious and continuing task of reviving and maintaining them, he said.

Vicente Tuddao Jr., executive director of the DENR’s River Basin Control Office, had said that the country had an abundant water supply, thanks to groundwater sources, various inland water bodies and regular rains. But this was not being used in the most efficient manner. Many major tributaries and basins were either polluted or deforested, he said./INQUIRER