The Philippines – with more than 7,100 islands – is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Unfortunately, it is located in “The Ring of Fire” – that thin region of dynamic volcanic and seismic activity around the rim of the Pacific Ocean.
As such, disasters are not just waiting to happen; they happen every now and then.
As Kathleen Tierney, director of the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado, puts it: “The Philippines is one of the most disaster-prone places on Earth. They’ve got it all. They’ve got earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, tropical cyclones, landslides.”
Typhoons seem to be a monthly occurrence. “The Philippines is considered to be one of the most storm-exposed countries on Earth,” said the website of the US Embassy in Manila. “On average, 18-20 tropical storms enter Philippine waters each year, with 8 or 9 of those storms making landfall.”
There is no month in the country that is free from typhoons. “About 95% of the tropical cyclones affecting the Philippines originate in the Pacific Ocean while the rest come from the South China Sea,” says the state-owned Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration.
Earthquakes are also becoming a regular event. “The Philippines suffers around 20 earthquakes a day but most are too weak to be felt,” wrote Lindsay Bennet in her travel book entitled Philippines.
Bad news for Filipinos. Those natural disasters will be more frequent, intense, and costly in the coming decades. Climate change is traced to be the culprit of these increasing disasters.
“Climate change is expected to lead to more intense typhoons, higher sea levels, and storm surges,” said the World Bank report, Turn Down the Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts and the Case for Resilience.
When disaster strikes, no one is indispensable – whether you are rich or poor, young or old, famous or infamous, male or female. “We need to be prepared for the worst impacts of the natural calamities brought by climate change,” urges the country’s weather bureau, a line agency of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
One of the immediate problems during disasters is water. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that during a disaster, at least one gallon of water is required each day per person. It is higher in warmer weather and also increased for those who are pregnant or sick.
According to Scientific American, less than a week without water can be fatal.
“Without water, most people would die within three to five days. After a disaster, water supplies can be damaged or interrupted. Typhoons, floods, earthquakes can compromise the safety and availability of water,” said the Loma Linda University.
Is there a way safe water can be available during the time of natural disasters and calamities?
The Industrial Technology Development Institute (ITDI), another DOST line agency, has developed a groundbreaking technology to solve the shortage of safe drinking water during calamities and emergencies such as typhoons, flooding, and earthquakes
The technology is called SAFEWTRS: Emergency Disinfection System of Drinking Water. It is described as “a manually controlled, compact, and mobile water treatment system powered by solar energy that can produce up to 2,000 liters of potable water in nine hours.”
SAFEWATRS was introduced by Engr. Reynaldo L. Esguerra, chief science research specialist at ITDI’s Environmental and Biotechnology Division.
“The system is no different from other filtration and disinfection systems that are effective in removing chemicals and metals from water, making the post-processed water safe for public consumption,” said DOST in a press release.
What is commendable about the technology is that it can process saltwater, rainwater, spring waters, and turbid waters from lakes, producing water that conforms to the mandatory parameters prescribed in the Philippine National Standards for Drinking Water (PNSDW) of 2017.
As such, the quality of drinking water always follows the highest standards. In a performance testing conducted using the water from Laguna Lake, the technology yielded positive results. It was given an excellent rating following the PNSDW of 2017.
According to the press release, the innovation was developed not for economic reasons for the agency but to help communities lacking drinking water resources and ensuring enhancement of human well-being, which is one of the four DOST strategies.
SAFEWATRS has been installed in several areas in Luzon, particularly Bagong Silangan in Quezon City, Agoncillo town in Batangas, Sto. Domingo in Ilocos Sur; and San Clemente in Tarlac. Ilocos Region is currently on the list of recipients of this technology through the efforts of the Department of Science and Technology Region I.
SAFEWATRS is also applicable in remote areas where water supply is disrupted.
This is good news as the Nobel-prize winning United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimated that by 2080 nearly half the world’s population will be without clean water.
In the Philippines, current statistics show that 20% of the population have no access to potable water and 432 municipalities have less than 50% service coverage. About 6,000 premature deaths a year are caused by water-borne diseases.
In the 1950s, the Philippines had as much as 9,600 cubic meters of clean water per person, according to Dr. Rafael D. Guerrero, an academician with the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST). Four decades later, Filipinos must make do with little more than a third of that volume – 3,300 cubic meters per capita.
Experts claim that with an annual population rate of 2% to 2.3%, the Philippines will be facing a water shortage by 2025. “The rapid urbanization of the Philippines, with more than 2 million being added to the urban population annually, is having a major impact on water resources,” a report from the Asian Development Bank pointed out.
Maude Barlow, in her book The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for Right to Water, points out that “access to clean water is a human right.”
She exhorted the international community “to see beyond the borders to the moral courage necessary to conserve and share this precious resource, as well as working on a treaty like the one we hope to see regarding the climate crisis that sets goals for conservation, sharing of resources, providing technology necessary to developing countries that helps them with conserving through agriculture, infrastructure, and basic education.” – ###
