THE recent celebration of World Wetlands Day on February 2 by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in Davao Region brought to the attention of its personnel the importance of continuing its vigilance to the protection and conservation of various watersheds.
Having the opportunity to witness this event that took place in one of Davao City’s precious wetlands resource in Malagos reservation brought into focus the realization that many among our compatriots (including me) largely ignore, if not, are taking for granted, this most vital resource we have in water.
Our reactions when confronted with water shortage or interruptions is one of impatience, and even irritation and anger, easily putting the blame on our main water provider, the water district that has, for years, providing us one of the “best waters” in the world in terms of quality. Most often we fail to recognize each of our roles and responsibility in ensuring that this God-given gift continues to flow for us and for the next generation.
Most often we do not appreciate how the people who are tasked to ensure that our drinking water reaches us in good quality are doing extra effort to make it so, because we are only concerned of our daily supply. We do not see that they have to work and be vigilant 24 hours each day to provide us quality water, and that we always thought in a simplistic manner their efforts at maintaining, protecting and preserving our water sources.
For instance, it is farthest in our minds that the quality of the water that we drink right from the taps of our faucets at home has gone through stringent filtration processes and quality control that far exceeds the one being done by bottled mineral water providers. We take for granted that we are paying less for the waters flowing from our faucets than the ones that are bottled.
According to Ms. Hydie Maspinas, manager of Water Quality Division of DCWD, we are drinking quality water now because 50 years ago there was no pollutants yet, but we cannot assure the next generation in the next 50 years with the same quality anymore considering the kind of developments going on today that are endangering our environment in general.
It is a challenge for everybody, she said to really take care of our water supply, and yet, people seems to be unaffected by this fact.
Thus, we cannot be complacent just because we consider ourselves only as consumers but we must also be proactive and vigilant with regards the protection and conservation of this one vital resource that we are losing fast.
The need to understand the state of our wetlands in Davao City and in the whole world how we can each contribute to the preservation and conservation of this water source is foremost for our own survival. We need to care enough for the welfare of our future generation and it must be now as our world is facing extinction and our survival endangered.