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Monday, April 05, 2004
Guv urges Ilonggos: Conserve water
Gov. Niel Tupas Sr. urged Ilonggos to take immediate action to avoid water shortage in the years ahead as he emphasized the value of rainwater harvesting.
Speaking at the Rainwater Harvesting Summit held recently at the Iloilo Provincial Capitol, Tupas, chairperson of the Provincial Watershed Management Council, said that rain should be considered an abundant resource and should not be allowed to go to tremendous waste.
It is unfortunate that rain is allowed to go to waste because there is an age-old technology for catching and storing rainwater, he said.
"As we march toward progress, we still heavily rely on the convenience provided by water utilities such as the Metro Iloilo Water District. We just want to open the faucet and expect water will gush out of it anytime we need it for drinking, washing and other purposes," he said.
Tupas warned Ilonggos that as the population grows, the pressure on run water resources also grows.
In Iloilo City for instance, water consumption is growing by leaps and bounds every year but the source in the Maasin watershed remains constant, he said.
He explained that people cannot just continue to dig more wells as ground water levels are dropping, and unless they ease up on the amount of water drawn from underground, such resources might also dry up.
According to Tupas, tremendous advances in technology have been made, but there is yet no replacement for age-old practices such as impounding water for irrigation or storing water in cistern tanks.
Tupas said that through the summit, participants will learn from the experiences of Davao and Cebu how to promote rainwater harvesting.
Rainwater harvesting is a popular term used for a tradition of collecting rainwater, improved by modern concepts and technologies, a result of more than two decades of research work around the globe.
Dr. Jessica Salas, chairperson of the Philippine Watershed Management Coalition, said that today, rainwater harvesting is used in wet and dry countries, in poor and modern situations, for water supply and for sanitation in homes.
It is also utilized in addressing agricultural productivity and food security for poverty alleviation, even in places with 200 mm of rain.
(April 3, 2004 issue)
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