MANILA, Philippines, March 30 ----- The administration is addressing the water crisis, President Marcos said as he reiterated the need to improve the way the country manages the resource.
Sen. Nancy Binay cited the need to prepare for an impending water crisis, saying the country has been affected regularly by the El Niño phenomenon and yet it continues to be caught off guard by water shortages. Binay urged the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) to share its “holistic and comprehensive water resource plan” and its water allocation and reuse policy with the local governments, so that it can be implemented at the community level.
She asked how many rainwater collection systems have been built by the government in the more than 42,000 barangays in the country since the Rainwater Collector and Springs Development Act was passed in 1989, as well as how many of these are damaged and require rehabilitation. Asked to react to the call for a comprehensive plan to address a possible water crisis, Marcos said the government has an “overall plan” aimed at improving the way water resources are managed.
“They may not have heard the fact that we have organized already the Office of Water Management precisely to address this problem, all of these things we have already put up together – we have already (put) together (an) overall plan. Now, we have to implement it... There are many agencies that are concerned when it comes to water management. So, we have to make it more cohesive,” Marcos said.
Marcos said it is not acceptable that the Philippines, a tropical country, is experiencing water shortage.
“It’s just really a question of managing our water... We kept postponing this problem over the many, many years at every level. So, it’s time to put it together,” he added.
Source: philstar.com
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