Friday, January 04, 2008 Water crisis looms in S. Cotabato By Bong S. Sarmiento
KORONADAL CITY -- A multi-sectoral body here has pressed the alarm button over a looming water crisis in South Cotabato due to forest destruction and improper water usage.
Sister Pia Rabiera, chairperson of the Multi -Sectoral Forest Protection Committee of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), said the situation is alarming, projecting that water supply in the province may not reach until 2070.
If the wanton illegal cutting of trees in the mountains will remain unabated and improper use of water will continue, the province may dry-up by that time, she said.
"With the quantity of water getting low, we really have to be alarmed by the fact that water is getting scarce," Rabiera was quoted in a statement recently released by the provincial information office.
Currently, the province has only 11 percent primary forest and 23 percent secondary forest, data from the local environment department showed.
Primary forest is considered the major source of water and home to many wildlife and endemic species.
Rabiera said the multi-sectoral committee has initiated measures on protecting the watershed areas, investigating illegal cutting of trees, illegal logging in protected areas and restoration zones and riverbank rehabilitation.
Abdula Bansuan, executive director of the Allah Valley Landscape Development Alliance (AVLDA), echoed the claims of Sister Rabiera that forest destruction was a major factor in the dwindling water supply in the province.
"If not contained, farmers to as far as Liguasan Marsh in North Cotabato and Maguindanao province would also suffer, since the Allah Valley river system ends to the marsh," he said.
AVLDA is a special body composed of concerned public and private entities in eight municipalities and one city that are covered by the Allah Valley landscape within the provinces of South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat.
Early this year, Felipe Uy, chair of the Provincial Agriculture and Fishery Council (PAFC), said the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) has to resort to water rationing for rice production in South Cotabato due to the critical decrease of water level at the Allah Valley system.
"The entry of commercial planting of banana by large companies in towns located upstream of existing irrigation systems will definitely aggravate the needed volume of water for rice production," Uy said, apparently referring to Upland Banana Corp based in T'boli, South Cotabato.
Owing to this, the PAFC, he added, urged the National Water Resources Board to regulate the issuance of water rights permit, especially for areas located at the upstream of existing irrigation systems.
Upland Banana is under the Davao-City-based AJMR Group, which is headed by Alberto M. Soriano. In 2004, Japanese firm Sumifru Corp poured investments of about P2.1 billion for AJMR's banana expansion.
But Bansuan said there is no study to validate the theory that Upland Banana is apparently worsening the decline of the water volume in the area.
Upland Banana has been conducting tree-planting activities at the Allah River system as part of its environment protection program.
