SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION FOR THE REOCCURING MANILA WATER CRISIS

2019

INTRODUCTION

Water is a basic necessity of life needed by living things to function. From taking

a bath upto the microscopic level, water is a necessity. But nowadays, water that is

originally a necessity, became hard to access. People may be taking the privilage of having

uninterupted access to water for grated, but there is actually a high demand of water

resources around the world and is considered a political issue (Water Encyclopedia, n.d.).

Philippines is currently experiencing water scarcity, where of majority people in the poor

urban areas are suffering from inconvinience. This issue gave rise and would give rise to

other probelms from different sectors.

Manila is being supplied by the two private companies that gets its water from the

Angat Dam. in Norzaragay, Bulacan. This dam provides around 96% of the entire demand

of Metro Manila. The dam lets out 4,000 million liters per day (MLD) for both

concessionaires. Out of this figure, 2,400 MLD is allocated for Maynilad, while 1,600

MLD is sent to Manila Water. Before reaching households in Manila, water flows from

Angat dam, to Ipo dam, and eventually to La Mesa dam. The vicious cycle of watere crisis

started in the mid-1990s and still and ongoing for decades of underinvestment that led to

poor water services and low coverage (Rivera, 2014).

 In the present, a complain last March 2019 according to the Manila Water that

there are at least 13 barangays in Mandaluyong City were affected (“no water”). In

Marikina City, barangays experienced “low pressure to no water” service interruptions. In

Quezon City, at least 83 barangays experienced “low pressure to no water” service

interruptions last week. Several barangays in Antipolo, Rizal, were also affected, so with

Pasig, Taguig, the Rizal towns of Angono, Taytay and Binangonan, as well as Makati,

Parañaque, and Pateros (BusinessWorld, March 11, 2019). Residents experienced weak to

no water supply, with some areas having people line up for hours to get water from tankers

(BusinessWorld, 2019). The situation is cumbersome for the people, having to fecate

without water to flush, not being able to wash;Their hygiene were in vain.

Water crisis isn’t the problem alone, but it unfortunately bears fruit to other issues.

The re-immergence of polio virus in the philippines correlates to the water crisis the

country is having. As per WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund (2019), “poor

sanitation and hygiene conditions” as one of three factors that made the Philippines a

candidate for the resurgence of poliovirus. Many Filipinos has limited to no access to water,

with the water shortage situation, it came to the point where the once polio free country is

now facing the disease again. Simply, because any virus would target the

immunocompromised, and the residents experiencing major water shortage are the perfect

candidate for being a susceptible host of the polio virus.Access for all to adequate supply

of clean water benefits the entire community, primarily in the prevention of infectious

diseases (Stinus-Cabugon, 2019).

Water resource also has its limits to extraction and needed time for replenishing.

What happened was, the level of water was below normal for the dams and would not reach
the aqueducts. Multiple solutions were made, but all were short-termed. El nino would

come, the water level would drop again, and the poor residents in the Metro Manila area

would suffer. Over the years, Cebu’s decision-makers have shown limited interest in

protecting the sources of water and in finding ways to enhance water production and

promote water conservation which seems to be the sole reason why Philippines is stuck in

a cycle of water scarcity (Stinus-Cabugon, 2019).