MA. RAYSOLYN E.

NATIVIDAD
ENS 270 – Dynamics of Population, Resources, and Environment

COMPARISON OF WATER RESOURCES OF TWO COUNTRIES:

PHILIPPINES AND INDONESIA

I. Introduction

A. Philippines

The Philippines is an archipelagic country which has a total land area of 300,000
square kilometers (115,831 square miles) comprising of 7,107 islands. It has a
coastline of 36, 289 kilometers or 22,549 square miles (CIA World Factbook, 2020)
with an exclusive economic zone covering about 2,263,816 square kilometers
(874,064 square miles), which is three times its land area (Sea Around Us, 2016).

The country has three main islands: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. As of 2018, it
has a total population of 106,651,922 and a population density of 358 per square
kilometer ((World Bank, 2019).

The country has 17 political regions and 12 water resource regions.

Figure 1 Political Map of the Philippines Figure 2. Water Resources Map of the Philippines
(Photo: www.pinterest.ph) (Photo: NWRB, 2019)

B. Indonesia

Indonesia is also an archipelago with a total land area of 1,904,569 square

kilometers (735,358 square miles) comprising of 17,508 islands (Indonesian
Naval Hydro-Oceanographic Office). The sea area of Indonesia constitutes 81% of
the total land area, or about 7.9 million square kilometers (ADB 2016).

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 Figure 3. Political Map of Indonesia (Photo: www.freeworldmaps.net)

The country has five (5) main islands: Sumatera, Java, Madura, Sulawesi, and
Papua. It has a total population of 254 million in 2014 and a density of 123.76
people per square kilometer (ADB, 2016).

II. Water Resources

A. Philippines

The Philippines has 412 principal river basins in which 18 are considered major
river basins, 79 lakes, 119 proclaimed watersheds, and a network of groundwater
reservoirs with a total area of 50,000 square kilometers (NWRB, 2019).

It is also visited by an average of 20 typhoons per year with an average annual

precipitation of 2,400 millimeters (PAGASA, 2019). The distribution of rainfall is
different from one region to another, depending on the wind direction and the
mountain systems location.

However, in spite of the country’s abundant water supply, the Philippines is already
considered water stress, with only 1,446 cubic meter of water available per person,
way below the threshold of 1,700 cubic meter per person annual water supply
(NEDA 2019). As of 2018, the country has already 9 water-stressed cities: Metro
Manila, Metro Cebu, Angeles City, Bacolod City, Baguio City, Cagayan de Oro City
Davao City, Iloilo City, and Zamboanga City (NWRB, 2019).

The Philippines has a total water resources of 146.0 billion cubic meters, with surface
water accounting for 125.8 million cubic meter, and groundwater accounting for 20.2
million cubic meter (NEDA, 2019). Table 1 shows the breakdown of water resources
distribution per region in the Philippines.

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 Table 1. Water Balance in the Philippines, 2018 (Source: NWRB, 2019)

B. Indonesia

Indonesia has 8,000 watersheds, 131 river basins of which 5 basins cross three
countries (Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, and Timor Leste) while 37 basins are
considered of national importance, and 5,700 rivers that comprised of many dams,
weirs, and canals. It has an average annual rainfall of 2,350 millimeters (ADB,
2016).

Indonesia has a total water resources of 690 × 109 cubic meters (m3) per year. It
has an average total surface water availability of 3,906,476 million cubic meter per
year, with the biggest surface water availability in Kalimantan (ADB, 2016).
Table 2. Surface Water Availability in Indonesia, 2012 (Source: ADB, 2016)

Indonesia has many groundwater basins with a groundwater potential of 520 billion
cubic meter per year, and a yield of about 155 billion cubic meter per year
groundwater (see Table 3 and Figure 4).

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 Table 3. Groundwater Availability and Safe Yield of Groundwater by Region, Indonesia, 2014
(Source: ADB, 2016)

III. WATER USES

A. Agriculture Water Use

The Philippines has a total agricultural land of 13.32 million hectares with an
estimated irrigable land of 3.13 million hectares, of which only 1.89 million hectares
have irrigation facilities as of 2017 (PSA, 2018). As of 2013, the agriculture sector
consumed 70% of the total water resources in the country (ADB, 2013), estimated
to be around 67.753 million cubic meters (NWRB-JICA, 1998).

In Indonesia, the total agricultural area is 40.7 million hectares, or 22% of the total
land area of the country. Around 84% of the rice areas in the country are irrigated,
while the remaining 16% are rainfed.

The agricultural water requirement in Indonesia is 3,500 billion cubic meter per
year, or 11,000 cubic meter per second. Only 17%–20% of the agriculture sector
depends on irrigation, whose estimated water demand (mainly from rice
production) is around 5,441 cubic meter per second. Irrigation water from
groundwater accounts for only 1% while 12% are from reservoirs.
Figure 4. Irrigation Water Demand per River Basin, Indonesia (Source: ADB, 2016)

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B. Industrial Water Use

Industrial processes and industrial machines use large amounts of water.

Processes such as paper manufacturing, mining, textile production, and chemical
pulping needed an exclusive water source. Industries also utilizes water for
purification methods in both water supply and discharge.

In the Philippines, the industrial sector consumed 20% of the total water resources
of the country as of 2013 (ADB, 2013), estimated to be around 9.054 million cubic
meters (NWRB-JICA, 1998).

In Indonesia, the industry sectors that have a very high water requirements are: (1)
agro-industry, food and beverage; (2) textile; and (3) paper and pulp.
Table 4. Water Demand from the Industry Sectors, Indonesia (Source: ADB, 2016)

C. Domestic Water Use

Domestic water use refers to the everyday usage of water in the home, which
include drinking, hygiene, food preparation, laundry, washing dishes, watering the
plants in the lawns and gardens, and sanitation (waterencyclopedia.com).
In the Philippines, the domestic sector consumed 10% of the total water resources
as of 2013 (ADB, 2013), estimated to be around 6.597 million cubic meter (NWRB-
JICA, 1998).

On average, a person needs 54 liters of water a day for drinking, hygiene,

sanitation, food preparation, and laundry. But in 2014, the actual water use by an
individual Filipino was pegged at 98 liters per person per day, almost double the
average amount of water consumption (PDI, 2016).

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 Figure 6. Filipino Families (in %) with Access to Safe Water by Region and Service Level, 2015 (NEDA, 2019)

In Indonesia, around 66.8%, of households have access to improved drinking water

source, with 64.3% urban population and 69.4% rural population (ADB, 2016).

Figure 7. Indonesian Households (in %) Having Access to Clean Water in Each Province, 2013 (ADB, 2013)

References:
1) National Water Resources Board (NWRB). 2019. National Water Summit.
2) Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, Astronomic Services Administration
(PAGASA). 2019.
3) National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). 2019. National Water
Summit.
4) Indonesia Country Water Assessment. 2016. Asian Development Bank (ADB).
5) Sea Around Us website. 2016.
6) CIA World Factbook. October 2020. Philippines.
7) Philippine Statistics Authority. 2018. Agricultural Structure and Resources.
Report No. 2018-2.
8) NWRB-JICA. 1998. Master Plan Study on Water Resources Management in
the Philippines. Department of Public Works and Highways.
9) Water Encyclopedia.com. Uses of Water.
10) Rina Jimenez-David. El Nino and Water Use. April 15, 2016. Philippine Daily
Inquirer.
11) World Bank (WB). 2019. Philippines.