Thursday, June 26, 2008 Editorial: A concern worth talking about
ONE of the precious commodities that Dabawenyos are so proud of but give little attention to is our water supply. Complacent in the declaration a decade ago that ours is the second best water in the world, we do nothing but boast about it, even ten years hence; blind to the fact that Davao ten years ago is far different from Davao today. For one, there haven't been this many people before.
Almost a decade ago, concern has already been raised about the half-a-century old water pipes in the old Davao area, including the residential Matina. But nothing much has been said about it. After all, we have the second cleanest water in the world.
A few years back, the Davao City Water District (DCWD) has already raised the alarm that providing water for the whole of Davao will become more difficult as more and more communities have to be serviced, all with hundreds of residents, and thus the water facility company has identified possible surface water sources should our ground source no longer be enough for a booming population. Nothing much has been said nor resolved about this. After all, we have the second cleanest water in the world.
Today, the DCWD is saying that a hydropower plant in Tamugan, Davao City, will seriously threaten the city's limited water supply. And still we don't mind. After all, we have the second cleanest water in the world.
The way Dabawenyos react to alarm calls with regards a most precious resource has the mark of utter decadence, or as the dictionary would define if, "a luxurious self-indulgence", as we hurriedly brand anyone raising such a warning call as alarmist. We preen at the claim that we have the second cleanest water, never considering the fact that there are now 1.3-million residents sucking out water from our sources, excluding the visitors; sources that are replenished by denuded mountains pocked with banana and pineapple plantations and hundreds and thousands of houses that do not even have the proper sewage facility.
It's about time we took notice and for someone in true authority to apprise us on the state of our water sources. We can never be safe in our belief that we have the world's second cleanest drinking water for as long as our concern for this precious resource is manifested only by our insistence that it keep coming out of our faucets anytime we need it.
