by Jims VIncent Capuno
DAVAO CITY is in danger of losing one of its most important resources –water. This grim scenario is not remote if one considers the facts and findings dished out by some credible institutions which had studied the city’s water supply patterns the past years.
The issue of dwindling water, specifically potable or drinking water, the pride of Dabawenyos for the longest time, came to the fore again last week when Vice Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte led the Davao City Council in withholding approval of the reclassification of the site in Barangay Binugao of the coal-fired power plant being built by the Aboitiz Power Company, one of the country’s two biggest companies in the business of generating energy. The other is Manila Electric Company or Meralco.
The City Council earlier approved the establishment of the coal-fired plant after a series of committee hearings and plenary debates. The final hurdle was supposed to be reclassification of the plant site.
However, Duterte, who was earlier openly supporting the coal-fired plant, this time expressed concern over new information reaching him that the coal-fired plants are by necessity guzzlera of freshwater.
“I am sorry to delay the project, but there are still things that need to be addressed,” Vice Mayor Duterte said, adding “I was earlier made to understand that they would be using sea water (as coolant).”
“Kung gagamitin ninyo ang freshwater, ibang usapan na iyan (If you use freshwater, that’s another story),” the vice mayor was quoted as saying in the cover story of Edge Davao last week.
A presentation made by Aboitiz Power in last Friday’s joint hearing of the Council committees on energy, transportation, communication and housing failed to convince Vice Mayor Duterte and the councilors.
The vice mayor said he wanted more scientific evidence showing that using freshwater from the city’s aquifers for cooling purposes would not compromise future generations of city residents’ access to life-giving freshwater from their own aquifers. Duterte wants to confront the scientists who made the studies, saying that all Aboitiz Power, headed by First Vice President Manuel “Bobby” Orig, has done so far was issue “estimates”.
Just how worrisome the water situation in Davao City is may be gleaned from past findings of certain studies. The Department of .Environment and Natural Resources, in one of its recent reports, identified Davao as among the major cities in the country faced with looming shortage of fresh water supply.
The National Water Resources Board has also singled out the city as one of the urbanized areas where water is consumed extensively.
A much earlier study, particularly the one done funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency in 1991, listed Davao as one of the Philippine cities with “water-critical areas.” The other eight cities are Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, Baguio, Angeles, Bacolod, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro and Zamboanga.
A later study also said that in the mid-nineties, the Davao City Water District was already engaged in water mining, meaning that the district, the biggest single water district in the country, was already drawing or pumping out water from an aquifer at a volume and rate faster than what nature can recharge or replenish. Over-drawing of water from underground sources lowers the water table, making it harder and costlier to draw out water. The lowering of water table subsequently results in salinity intrusion or the sipping of salt or sea water into the aquifer.
The above facts and findings occasionally surface during controversies involving the unwise utilization of potable water in the city. A recent controversy was between Davao Light and Power Co. and the DCWD, in which the latter opposed the use of Tamugan River for the hydro-electric power generation project of DLPC. DCWD argued that the proposed DLPC hydro plant would stand in the way of DCWD’s plan of utilizing the surface water of Tamugan as an additional major source of potable water for the city, especially for the water-deficient northern portion of the city. A third party, a group of environmentists joined the fray by opposing the exploitation of the river by either DLPC or DCWD, arguing that both projects would have a negative effect on the city’s environment.
Which is more important: electricity or water?
In the name of progress and economic development, electricity is needed. This is particularly true in Mindanao, the country’s second largest island. “The demand (for electricity) is increasing and yet the supply is decreasing,” Manuel M. Orig, the first vice president for Mindanao affairs of the Aboitiz Power Corporation (APC), claims.
Currently, there is a shortfall between supply and demand for electric power. From 2010 to 2014, it is projected that the shortfall between supply and demand of power in Mindanao will reach 484 megawatts (MW). “This is equivalent to cutting power supply to five major cities in Mindanao ,” Orig points out. Namely: Davao , Cagayan de Oro, General Santos, Iligan, and Zamboanga.
“Unless a new power plant is built, the situation is going to get worse,” Orig warns. “Investments will not come in, jobs will be lost, factories may shut down, and the people of Mindanao will have blackouts of up to six hours a day by 2014.”
Thus, APC is bent on helping the island by building a new coal powered plant. It is investing around P25 billion for the project that will build two generation units with a capacity of 150 MW each. “The project will be built on a 52-hetare property straddling barangay Binugao, Toril in Davao City and barangay Inawayan in Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur,” it said in a press briefing kit.
Both the councils of Davao City and Sta. Cruz approved the construction of the coal-fired power plant. But Vice-Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte stalled the approval of a resolution reclassifying a parcel of land in Binugao (as mandated by law) when he learned that the plant will be extracting huge amounts of fresh water for its operations.
Duterte had earlier believed that the APC would use sea water for the plant’s cooling system. Fresh water is actually needed to fully manage a coal-fired power plant. Without water, no steam can be produced.
“A typical 500-megawatt coal-fired power plant draws about 2.2. billion gallons of water each year from nearby bodies of water, such as lakes, rivers, or oceans, to create steam for turning its turbines,” the US-based Union of Concerned Scientists said in its website. “This is enough water to support a city of approximately 250,000 people.”
“Water out will be lost forever,” Duterte was quoted as saying. “Money cannot replace what has been lost forever.This (fresh water) is a supply that is intended for the next generations (of the Davao population).”
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources, in one of its recent reports, identified Davao as among the major cities in the country, suffering from a shortage of fresh water supply. The National Water Resources Board has also singled out Davao as one of the urbanized areas where water is consumed extensively.
Earlier studies, particularly the one done by the Japan International Cooperation Agency in 1991, listed Davao as one of the nine major cities with “water-critical areas.” The other eight cities are Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, Baguio , Angeles, Bacolod , Iloilo , Cagayan de Oro and Zamboanga.
“Water is life,” the old proverb insists. Tell that to Filipinos and they will readily agree. A study made by the Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) shows that at least 431 municipalities outside Metro Manila are without water.
In the 1950s, the Philippines had as much as 9,600 cubic meters of clean water per person, according to Dr. Rafael D. Guerrero, former head of the Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development. Five decades later, Filipinos must make do with little more than a third for of 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. Thailand is at the bottom, with 1,854 cubic meters. Vietnamese have more than twice what Filipinos get: 4,591 cubic meters.
“The image of a water-rich Philippines is a mirage,” Gregory C. Ira, former head of the water equity in the lifescape and landscape study (WELLS) of the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, once pointed out. “There is a water crisis in the Philippines, one of the wettest countries in Southeast Asia .”
