There are alternatives to gas and oil, but there is no alternative to water.” This statement should motivate urgent action to address our country’s water crisis.
Crisis, because 70 people die every day from water-related diseases.
Sixteen million Filipinos have no access to safe drinking water.
Our rain harvesting rate is only 4 percent compared to India’s 60 percent in certain areas.
Some 5.7 million hectares of denuded forest lands and 300,000 hectares of lost mangroves cause massive flooding.
After action was taken with some water-related agencies, an organizational water meeting was held in Malacañang on June 20, 2017.
Participants were the government’s executive branch (Neda, DENR, DA, DILG, and the Office of the Cabinet Secretary), the legislature (Senate and the House of Representatives), and the private sector (AFA and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry).
On Nov. 24, Convenor Chair Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia called a meeting of the seven management teams which would be responsible for each sector’s progress in 2018.
Each team is composed of a government official assigned from an identified government department, a UPLB dean who is the main author of a sector study with recommendations, and a private sector leader.
With the three-person management team from the government, the academe, and the private sector, our water crisis will now be effectively addressed.