Water Crisis in the Philippines

Have you ever experienced a time when a store suddenly had an out of stock

item that was not available for a long time? It’s possible the fault falls upon the

store owner, but however it is not. In fact, is it the supplier’s fault for not having

enough resources to provide and make their products efficiently. When certain

natural/artificial sources are lacking or according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary,

“a state of being scarce”, this is what is called to be scarcity. (Merriam-Webster,

2018). Scarcity, a.k.a “paucity”, is an economic issue that deals with the lack of

resources that will have a definite effect to the economy and trade of a country.

(Investopedia, 2018). In the Philippines, we call this issue, “Water crisis”, which

one of the most alarming shortage of the resources is clean water.

According to water.org, over 9 million Filipinos depends on living with

dirty, unfiltered and impure water which leads to a high demand for clean and

sustainable water in the country. There are also 19 million people who lack the

access in order for water sanitation (Water.org, 2018). Since water is one of our

most profound basic needs, it means that each one of us cannot survive without

these needs. Living without pure water can lead to hazardous effects such as

diseases such as cholera and dysentery, which can spread when people use

contaminated water for either drinking or cooking. The lack of water may also
affect your own personal hygiene and result to spreading and transmitting diseases

to other people. (Handwerk, [n.d])

Addressing this issue is very important because this has been evident in our

country’s economic history for quite some time. As of July 30, 2018 according to

the latest United Nations estimates, there are 106,625,815 Filipinos in the country

and with the people suffering after all those years, there has not been a clear and

concise solution to this problem until now. (Worldometers, 2018) Addressing this

problem to our country is one of the ways that this issue can be finally solved. One

way is to give awareness by hosting fundraisers in different places for supporting

those people suffering due to unsustainable water. By doing this, there could be a

lot of donations that can be helpful and essential for the country’s future. Recently,

over 1.8 million people reached out to helping people living with unsustainable

water and those people who reached out have provided $80 million worth of

money. So far, 410,000 pesos worth of loans have been disbursed already. There

have been a few foundations such as the Caterpillar Foundation and Swiss Re

Foundation, who will provide and build a variety of water and sanitation solutions

to urban and rural areas of the country. (Water.org, 2018) Fortunately, a number of

companies in the Philippines, particularly large users of water, have stepped up to

the challenge to protect water resources for the future for the past few years. Most

recently, the Coca-Cola Company pledged P25 million for a five-year project
along with the World Wildlife Fund. Their aim was to rehabilitate and conserve

part of the Ipo watershed, which an important source of Metro Manila’s drinking

water. The company has also emphasized its commitment to restoring 100 percent

of the water it uses in producing its beverages back to the environment or either

affected communities by 2020. (Kritz, 2016)

By this way, not only is it helpful but there could be challenges along the

way. They may be some people who will not support it, those who do not like the

idea. There are people out there who haven’t been exposed yet to this type of issue

in the world. That is the reason why this issue must be acknowledged to the public

and with that, more and more people can help and give support to those low-

income families who have no access to clean water for their family. What is more

important is hoping and praying for the families who are struggling as of this

moment get all the help and support they need in order to live a better and

sustainable life. That one day, their suffering may end and they can live in peace.

Debasish Mridha once said, “Value of life depends not on your possessions, but on

your donation.” (Wise old sayings, n.d.)

References
Handwerk, B. ([n.d]). Sustainable Earth: Water. Retrieved from NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/sustainable-earth/water/
Investopedia. (2018). Scarcity. Retrieved from Investopedia:
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/scarcity.asp
Kritz, B. (2016, October 10). Philippines: A hotspot for water crisis. Retrieved
from The Manila Times: http://www.manilatimes.net/philippines-hotspot-
water-crisis/290528/
Merriam-Webster. (2018, July 15). Scarcity. Retrieved from Merriam-Webster:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scarcity
Water.org. (2018). Philippines' water and sanitation crisis. Retrieved from
Water.org: https://water.org/our-impact/philippines/
Wise old sayings. (n.d.). Donation Sayings and Quotes. Retrieved from Wise old
sayings: http://www.wiseoldsayings.com/donation-quotes/
Worldometers. (2018, July 30). Philippines Population . Retrieved from
Worldometers: http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/philippines-
population/