Saturday, September 23, 2006 Talk back: Water wars By Jose R. Gapas
It has been predicted that the cause of future wars will be water.
Well, water war is already in Cebu. Sun.Star Cebu front-paged recently the war among water supply contractors of Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD).
They don’t realize or are blind to the fact that they are making a contract on water that will disappear in two to three decades just like the water of the rivers crossing Cebu City.
In the 1950s, Lahug River had fresh flowing water. People swam, bathed, fished and washed clothes in it.
This was true with Guadalupe, Butuanon and Mananga rivers. They had continuously flowing water that supported life forms.
Now these life forms supported by that unique ecosystem have disappeared.
Our problem in Cebu’s is more that just sustainable water supply. An indicator of the water problem is the sinking water table.
Eddie Woolbright, the developer of Beverly Hills, dug a well in 1959. He reached potable water at 70 feet. Today, that same well has been deepened to 507 feet to reach the water table.
In 1969, Wilhelm Browell, a German scientist then teaching at the University of San Carlos (USC), studied the landward intrusion of seawater. He found in his study that sea water in 1969 was about a kilometer from the shoreline.
The latest data of the Water Resource Center of USC indicates that landward intrusion of seawater is more than four kilometers from the shoreline.
The challenge for us Cebuanos and our leaders is more than the need for sustainable water supply.
The real problem is how to stop and reverse these negative environmental trends of: 1) the drying-up of our rivers; 2) the sinking of our water table; and 3) the landward intrusion of seawater.
If the current trend continues within the next 40 years: 1) all our remaining rivers with water shall have dried-up; 2) the water table shall have sunk to more than 1000 feet deep; 3) the landward intrusion of sea water shall be more than eight kilometers from the shoreline.
Our Cebu, “The Beautiful Island in the Pacific,” is drying-up very fast. We have to act and do something now.
