BAGUIO City was identified by the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) as one of the 10 cities in the country where water is scarce.
Engr. Susan Abaño, chief of the policy and program division of NWRB, said aside from Baguio City, the other critical areas identified are Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, Iloilo, Cavite, Angeles City and Mabalacat City, Bacolod City, Zamboanga City, Tagbilaran City and Batangas City.
Because of these findings, the government, through the NWRB, is implementing a groundwater management plan to ensure sustainable water resources for future generations as the list of areas in the Philippines that are running out of water grows.
Abaño, who spoke during a presentation at a forum on cities of the future, said these are not the only places where water is growing scarce, as more are expected to join the list, the reason the government is set to conduct a groundwater management plan for these "water-stressed areas."
Abaño said the plan for water sustainability seeks to establish systematic and scientific management strategies for groundwater allocation, as well as provide information for prioritizing aquifers, which are underground, layers of rock that hold groundwater that can be drained by man-made wells.
It also calls for preparing groundwater vulnerability assessment maps to show where the areas prone to pollution are, said Abaño.
This is so that gasoline stations, sewerage treatment plants and other polluting establishments can be prohibited in places where groundwater can be contaminated, she added.
She said it also demands designing a groundwater monitoring network to monitor water quality and quantity of the aquifers.
Developing a groundwater management plan is also part of strategies to study integrated water resources management and future impacts of climate change, with the results of the project to be used as basis for policy, planning, programming and project implementation.
Abaño said the NWRB continues to manage the allocation of Angat Dam, which is the main source of water supply for Metro Manila, home to 15 million people.
Other long-term measures are the development of Bayabas Dam for irrigation purposes, rehabilitation of irrigation canals, and construction of infrastructure to capture excess water.
A roadmap is also being prepared for the Comprehensive National Plan on Water Security in which one of the solutions identified is rainwater harvesting.
This entails that government agencies install rainwater harvesting mechanisms, and LGUs issue ordinances requiring new developments to be fitted with rainwater harvesting facilities and existing buildings to be retrofitted.
Likewise, the roadmap will prescribe the optimal use of rainwater for agricultural purposes, said Abaño.
In her update, Abaño also talked of the plan to create a Department of Water, currently being discussed in congressional hearings wherein such department, duplication and waste of manpower and financial resources can be avoided as the 32 water-related agencies will be placed under one umbrella.
The NWRB is the national coordinating and regulating agency on water resources management and development.