Every year, it’s the same problem.

During the rainy season, the metro is inundated with flood water. During the summer months, the metro suffers from a lack of water.

Sometimes it’s hard to fathom why a tropical island blessed with abundant rainfall and hundreds if not thousands of natural springs should have to suffer from water interruptions.

I was reading an article on SunStar Cebu where Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama emphasized that “not having water has a negative impact on his vision of a Singapore-like Cebu City” during the first Cebu Water Summit on Monday, March 27, 2023.

Never mind that many of his constituents won’t have access to potable water or won’t have any water to use for cooking and washing clothes.

No, the mayor is more concerned about image.

Such narrow-mindedness from a politician perhaps explains why this decades-old dilemma has never been addressed properly.

There has never been any problem identifying why Cebu has a water crisis because there really hasn’t been any proper water management. Otherwise, all that water that falls on the metro during the rainy season won’t have gone to waste.

Also, the population has increased considerably. That means more people are using water indiscriminately to water their lawns or to wash their vehicles, among other things.

If I remember correctly, the problem was first brought up back in the 1980s. Forty years have passed and all the concerned stakeholders are still calling “for the formulation of Cebu’s Integrated Water Resources Management.”

It’s no wonder we are where we are today.