Water plays an important role in the Holy Bible. When God created the world, water was mentioned. “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters,” Genesis 1:2 stated.
In Revelation 21:6, John the Baptist wrote: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.”
Water in itself is life. The various chemical properties of water render it essential for all living organisms. Water possesses the unique ability to dissolve a wide array of substances and is one of the few materials that can exist in solid, liquid, and gaseous states within a limited temperature range.
“Water is an extremely important resource that we cannot live without. But there are Filipinos who are still being left behind in terms of access to improved water sources, especially in rural communities,” said the World Health Organization (WHO).
Although the Philippines – an archipelago which has about 7,641 islands – is surrounded by water and has plenty of rivers, lakes, waterfalls and wetlands, the water crisis is already prevalent.
For instance, Davao City, which prides itself as having the best fresh water in the country, already has a water problem. At one time, a managing editor of a local daily complained of not having water in their barangay for a couple of hours.
Another reporter posted a comment on social media that in her area, the drip was so miniscule that she had to wait for a pail to be filled up with water for 30 minutes. She called the Davao City Water District to see if there was a repair being made and the other end answered there was none.
It may be unthinkable to have a water crisis, but a study done in 1991 by the Japan International Cooperation Agency has identified Davao City as among the nine major cities in the country as “water-critical areas.” The other eight were Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, Baguio, Angeles, Bacolod, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro and Zamboanga.
The Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability (IDIS) reported that Davao City’s demand for all types of water use was 108,358,841 cubic meters in 2016. This demand is projected to reach 164,392,803 cubic meters by 2031.
“Davao is a bustling city with a population of around 1.7 million,” said Green Agenda 2022. “With its growing population, the demand for clean and accessible water supply also increases, such that policies protecting the integrity and availability of water supply are crucial.”
Actually, there are several factors that contribute to water shortage. These include variability in climate, demographic patterns, and unsustainable water-use patterns. In some urban centers of the country where water is available, 50% never reaches the designated consumers due to leakage, theft and poor management. These identified problems are compounded by the degradation of water resource base.
Davao City, one of the largest cities in the country, is blessed with abundant fresh drinking water, both ground and surface. But in recent years, its groundwater sources may no longer be “sufficient to supply the increasing water needs of the city for the next decade,” IDIS pointed out.
These aquifers, as they are called, should not be pumped heavily or else a saline problem would happen. Over-extraction is said to be the reason behind Cebu’s problem of salinity. Cebu reportedly pumps 275,000 cubic meters daily, scribe Juan Mercado reported. Its coastal aquifer can recharge less than half.
The “over-mining” permits salt water to seep in. So much so Mercado surmised Cebu “can always become the country’s salt capital.” The damage is irreversible. It takes 500 years or so to flush tainted underground reservoirs.
The Davao City Water District (DCWD), which taps freshwater from aquifers, can learn from that experience.
“DCWD cannot over-extract water from these aquifers otherwise you run the risk of intrusion of saline water,” explained veteran journalist Serafin Ledesma, Jr. “Remember those aquifers are adjacent to the coastline. Once seawater intrudes to the aquifers that occurrence becomes irreversible.”
At one time, Ledesma, Jr. asked a government official what measures his office is taking to protect the watersheds of the various dams in Luzon that feed water to the National Capital Region. “He shot back and asked me what watersheds are?” said the Davao-based scribe.
Watersheds are areas where rain water can drain; they are also called catchment areas or drainage basins. Many of the country’s largest cities are located in watersheds where all available water is being used.
Davao City has eight watershed areas, including the Talomo-Lipadas watershed located in Toril District. “These watersheds are natural reservoirs for the pristine potable water that has been certified as one of the world’s cleanest drinking waters,” IDIS said.
According to IDIS, one watershed that should be given urgent attention is the Panigan-Tamugan watershed as it has been classified as an Environmentally Critical Area (ECA) under the Davao City Watershed Code and a Critical Watershed Zone (CWZ) based on the Davao City Zoning Ordinance of 2018-2028.
“This classification signifies its vital role in the local ecosystem and its importance as the next source of drinking water for Davao City,” IDIS pointed out.
In August 2021, the Davao City Council passed the Ordinance Regulating Recreational Activities within the Watershed Areas of Davao City for the Protection, Conservation, and Preservation of the Natural Environment.
Late last year, the Apo Agua Infrastructura, Inc. (Apo Agua), a water subsidiary of Aboitiz InfraCapital (AIC), started commencing the supply of safe, reliable, and sustainable water to the Davao City Water District (DCWD).
The Davao City Bulk Water Supply Project (DCBWSP) – as it is known – is the largest of its kind in the country at 300 million liters per day (MLD), with a 70-kilometer pipeline. It addresses the water needs of over one million people in the city. More importantly, it augments the city’s reliance on groundwater sources, allowing the aquifers to rest and replenish while accommodating increasing water demand.
Although there should be enough supply of water for Davao residents, the quality of the water should also not to be taken for granted. “There should be a stringent implementation of the Clean Water Act,” Agenda 2022 said, referring to Republic Act No. 9275 which protects water bodies from land-based sources of pollution such as industries, mining operations, agricultural works and community household activities.
Under the Clean Water Act, the designation of a water quality management area (WQMA) – which should be managed and protected – is already provided. Although Davao and Talomo Rivers already have WQMA, this does not hold true for other critical rivers in the city, including the Panigan-Tamugan.
As such, the agenda urged that WQMA should also be established in other existing rivers of the city to protect them from deterioration and other impending threats.
Water quality management is not possible if a sewerage system is not properly applied in the city. “A centralized septage and sewerage system should be established,” the agenda urged.
Recently, the DCWD said it will be implementing the Davao City Septage Management Program (SMP). The objective of the program, which is done in partnership with the city government, is “to protect public health and the environment by ensuring the proper collection/desludging, transport, and treatment of septage and the disposal/reuse of the treated by-products consisting of effluent and biosolids.”
Septage is a combination of scum, sludge, and liquid accumulated in the septic tanks that should be desludged or regularly removed at least once every five years.
According to the fact sheet, DCWD collects the septage from individual septic tanks and transport these using vacuum trucks equipped with spill control and disinfectant materials to the Septage Treatment Plant in Malagamot Road, Indangan.
At the treatment plant, the collected septage is treated. After treatment, the effluent (liquid waste) and biosolids (organic matter) are properly disposed of.
The effluent disposal must meet the standards set by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for Class B receiving water body. As for biosolids disposal, these should also meet the standards set by the Department of Health for Class B biosolids.
Meanwhile, IDIS is batting for saving and using rainwater to help solve the forthcoming water crisis that Davao City will be facing. It said that the city receives an average of 2,628 millimeters of rain per year.
“Even during a typical dry season, the city receives a minimum of 2,000 millimeters of rainfall,” IDIS said, adding that this ensures the city “of at least 100,000 liters of rain if only harvested by a typical 50 square meter roof catchment.”
It must be recalled that in 2009, the city enacted an ordinance concerning the proper harvesting, storage, and utilization of rainwater. This legislation mandated that establishments and buildings implement catchment systems for the collection of rainwater. The primary objective of the ordinance was to promote rainwater as a viable alternative source of non-potable water and to serve as a strategy for flood mitigation.
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. Four decades later, Filipinos must make do with little more than a third of that volume – 3,300 cubic meters per capita.
Today, the Philippines ranks second from the lowest among Southeast Asian countries in terms of per capita water availability per year with only 1,907 cubic meters, according to a World Bank report. Thailand is at the bottom, with 1,854 cubic meters. Vietnamese have more than twice what Filipinos get: 4,591 cubic meters.
“The wars of the 21st century will be fought over water,” a former vice president of the World Bank, Ismael Serageldin, declared before the dawn of the new millennium. And this prediction is getting closer to happen.
“As a vital resource, water is part of the ‘commons’ and, therefore, must not be commodified or privatized,” wrote Tony Clarke, author of Blue Gold: The Battle Against the Corporate Theft of the World’s Water. “Instead, water is a fundamental human right that should be made universally available to all people rather simply than sold to the highest bidder or distributed through market mechanisms to those who have the ability to pay.”
As the Holy Bible states, “For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward” (Mark 9:41).
