In the forests of Barangay Nalkan, Datu Blah T. Sinsuat, Maguindanao del Norte, water sources are drying up, forcing children to trek hilly, landslide-prone areas to draw water from springs. 

In the coastal and highland Barangay Tambak, also in Datu Blah T. Sinsuat, the drought has made it difficult for the mostly Teduray community to sustain farming as their livelihood. Approximately 40 hectares of their land planted with coconut, corn, ube and peanut, among others, have been ravaged by the dry spell. 

In the municipalities of Ampatuan and Datu Abdullah Sangki in Maguindanao del Sur, 100 hectares of land planted with corn, coconut and vegetables are drying up under torrid temperatures.  

“Unable to cultivate their farmlands due to the absence of rainfall, our IP farmers find themselves in dire straits, with some facing the imminent threat of starvation in the absence of government assistance,” Froilyn T. Mendoza, member of the Bangsamoro Parliament, said in a report to the United Nations Development Program in Cotabato.

The peasant group Kilusan Para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo at Katarungang Panlipunan (or Katarungan) shared Mendoza’s undated report with CoverStory.ph. According to Katarungan, the cases she cited took place two weeks ago.  

Elsewhere, in Masbate, some fishpond owners have reported a fish kill, possibly due to the extreme heat.

Crop damage at P4B  

The prolonged drought caused by the El Niño phenomenon has damaged P4.39 billion worth of crops in at least 66,000 hectares of land, Agriculture Assistant Secretary Arnel de Mesa said at a briefing hosted by Task Force El Niño on Monday afternoon.

A total of 103 cities and municipalities and five provinces—South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Basilan and Maguindanao del Sur in Mindanao, and Occidental Mindoro in Luzon—have declared a state of calamity due to severe drought.   

“ … [T]his year’s El Niño has been the subject of many complaints from farmers,’’ Katarungan secretary-general Danny Carranza told CoverStory.ph via Zoom from Indonesia on Monday morning. “This is an emergency situation.” 

There’s an acute demand from farmers for water for irrigation and household use, Carranza said.  

While Task Force El Niño has described the agricultural damage as “negligible,” Carranza warned that it could lead to a “crisis in agriculture.”  

For the IP communities reeling from drying land and depleted potable water supply in Maguindanao del Sur and Maguindanao del Norte, Mendoza sought the immediate provision of relief goods such as food and water, as well as medical assistance.  

To help the farmers, drought-resistant agricultural and livestock-rearing practices should be adopted, she said.  

Drinking water

For May, the “last month of the cropping season,” the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) is giving the full allocation of 24 cubic meters per second to the National Irrigation Administration, Environment Undersecretary Carlos David said at the briefing, “so that this will not lay to waste our cropping season.” 

Carranza agreed that the first order of business for the local government units (LGUs) is to deliver potable water and relief goods, such as rice and canned food, to farmers and their families to see them through this dry spell.  

“The delivery of drinking water should be prioritized,” he said, adding that if the delivery of relief goods is not possible, LGUs should consider giving each farmer’s family cash assistance of P10,000 for their food and other provisions for May.   

In terms of infrastructure, farmers would rather wait for the end of El Niño before digging deep wells, diverting water from rivers to their farms, or setting up solar-powered irrigation, said Carranza, himself a coconut farmer. 

“Doing it now is impractical,” he said. 

The Department of Agriculture has released P2.16 billion worth of interventions to farmers, Assistant Secretary De Mesa said. 

The amount includes P1.065 billion in financial assistance (P5,000 to rice farmers tilling land smaller than 2 hectares) and P638 million in fertilizers and farm inputs, and P295 million worth of small-scale irrigation projects. 

Carranza said that in order to offset the damage to crops, the government should expand crop insurance to cover farmers’ losses from the drought. 

The Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. has provided P68-million indemnification to 7,322 farmers, according to De Mesa. 

Extended drought conditions  

At the Monday briefing, Science Secretary Renato Solidum said that El Niño was weakening and transitioning to La Niña, and that this has delayed the onset of the rainy season. 

“Right now, what we are considering and should be planning [for] would be the continuation of drought conditions,” Solidum said. “The peak will still be now and May. And by June it will taper off, and drought conditions will still be experienced in eight provinces by August.”

There will be rain in May but “near-normal” rainfall will be experienced in August and September, he said. “In May, June and July, the rainfall will still not be enough. That’s why our drought condition is extended.”  

El Niño is associated with below-normal rainfall, and La Niña with above-normal rainfall. 

Undersecretary David also addressed the reported lack of water in many provinces on the country’s western section from the Ilocos to Palawan to Bulacan to Zamboanga City.

“The level of water in deep wells has dipped, but the reports reaching us is that this is still sufficient, except for Zamboanga City, where they’ve been experiencing water interruptions since February,” David said.

He said water providers in cities or municipalities may avail themselves of a loan from the Land Bank of the Philippines to improve the water supply. 

To conserve water, the government has lowered the water pressure for households in Metro Manila at night, on top of reducing the water supply for the same households during the Holy Week, when many residents were away on vacation, David said.  

On Monday, the water level at Angat Dam, which supplies 90% of the metropolis’ requirements, was at 188 meters, still above the minimum operating level of 180 meters. 

‘Alarming’ dip  

“While the supply is still enough, the decrease in water level, in terms of its rate, is quite alarming,” David said. “Our water level dips at nearly 0.4 meter to half a meter each day. And therefore, we need some intervention.” 

On May 1-15, the NWRB will release the full allocation of 50 cubic meters per second to the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, which regulates water in the capital and other areas, according to David. 

He said the figure amounts to 2 cubic meters per second “higher than in previous years,” given that the consumer base is expanding and consumption is rising in the metropolis. 

“So, we have enough allocation from May 1 to May 15,” David said.

Despite the full allocation, Environment Secretary Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga is exhorting all to “chip in in conserving water,” he said.

The post Drought now ‘an emergency situation,’ peasant group leader says appeared first on CoverStory.

The years 2016 (which had a strong El Niño) and 2020 were previously classed as the warmest on record at 1.29 ±0.12°C and 1.27 ±0.12°C, respectively, above the pre-industrial era (1850-1900).

The WMO says the 2023 temperature record is symbolic as it is close to the 1.5^oC above pre-industrial level limit set by the Paris Agreement, the legally binding international treaty on climate change 

Each decade has been warmer than the previous one since the 1980s. The past nine years have been the warmest on record.  Based on the six datasets used by the WMO, the average for the period 2014-2023 was 1.20 ±0.12°C above the 1850-1900 average, factoring in a margin of uncertainty. 

Per the WMO, record-high temperatures were recorded in the months of June to December, which set a new monthly record. July and August were the two hottest months on record.      

“The shift from cooling La Niña to warming El Niño by the middle of 2023 is clearly reflected in the rise in temperature from last year,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo. 

“Given that El Niño usually has the biggest impact on global temperatures after it peaks, 2024 could be even hotter,” added Saulo, who took office on Jan. 1 to become the first woman and the first South American to head the WMO.

Human activities

But the extreme weather is not just because of El Niño.

“While El Niño events are naturally occurring and come and go from one year to the next, longer-term climate change is escalating and this is unequivocally because of human activities,” said Saulo.

The WMO news release includes the statement of UN Secretary-General António Guterres that issued the same warning: “Humanity’s actions are scorching the earth. 2023 was a mere preview of the catastrophic future that awaits if we don’t act now. We must respond to record-breaking temperature rises with path-breaking action.”  

Saulo also stressed the urgency for action: “Climate change is the biggest challenge that humanity faces. It is affecting all of us, especially the most vulnerable.             

“We cannot afford to wait any longer. We are already taking action but we have to do more and we have to do it quickly. We have to make drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate the transition to renewable energy sources.”

Considered the largest cause of greenhouse gas emissions and of global climate change are fossil fuels, which are made from decomposing plants and animals found in Earth’s crust. These include coal, oil and natural gas, which are used to generate electricity and energy.  

The COP28 statement issued in Dubai last December is considered historic because for the first time after decades of meetings, there is agreement to transition away from the use of fossil fuels.

Devastation and despair

The WMO’s provisional report on the State of the Global Climate 2023, published on Nov. 30, states that 2023 has shattered a number of climate records and “left a trail of devastation and despair.”

Aside from record-high global temperatures, there were record-high greenhouse gas levels, record-high sea level rise, and record-low Arctic sea ice.

The extreme heat in 2023 also helped fuel devastating wildfires, intense rainfall, floods, and rapidly intensifying cyclones that left a trail of destruction, death and huge economic losses.

The socioeconomic impact on food security, displacement and health will be explained in more detail in the WMO’s final State of the Global Climate 2023 report to be issued in March. 

The WMO is a specialized agency of the United Nations whose mandate covers weather, climate and water resources.  It provides the framework for international cooperation for UN member-states and territories, believing that the weather, climate and water cycle know no national boundaries.

The year 2023 was ranked as the warmest year in all six international datasets used by the WMO to come up with consolidated figures.

These include datasets based on climatological data from observing sites and ships and buoys in global marine networks, developed and maintained by the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the US Nasa’s (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Goddard Institute for Space Studies, the United Kingdom’s Met Office Hadley Centre and the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit, and the Berkeley Earth group.

The WMO also uses reanalysis datasets from the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts and its Copernicus Climate Change Service, and the Japan Meteorological Agency.

Read more: Unmasking ‘phantom’ carbon credits in Thailand: A genuine answer to climate change or chimera?

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While the traditional greeting is “Happy New Year,” this time it may need a significant addition in view of recent historic climate records. 

The greeting may well be: “Happy New Year, despite a hot or even hotter 2024.” 

June 2023 was the hottest June on record globally. July was also the hottest month. The following months—August, September, October and November—were likewise the hottest months. In all, six months in 2023 smashed global temperature records.

For the period January to November 2023, the global average temperature was the highest on record, according to Copernicus Climate Change Service, the European Union’s Earth observation program. It was 1.46°C above the pre-industrial average, and also 0.13°C higher than the 11-month average for 2016, the warmest calendar year on record.

This has prompted the EU’s climate monitor to say in its Dec. 6 news release that 2023 would be the warmest year on record.  It is the warmest globally since record-taking began in the 19th century, dislodging 2016.

In their analysis, the scientists described the global temperature of 2023 “more than 1.4°C warmer than pre-industrial levels.” That’s alarmingly close to the 1.5°C threshold in the Paris climate agreement, “beyond which scientists say humans and ecosystems will struggle to adapt.”

The year saw a number of weather events with devastating impact for people worldwide. These events included intense and extended heat waves in a number of countries, triggering massive wildfires, droughts and floodings.

Euronews said in its yearend report that the extreme heat and dry weather in Europe saw a number of wildfires. In Greece, the wildfires were declared the largest ever seen in the EU, burning an area of around 470,000 acres. 

The record-breaking and devastating wildfire season in Canada had more than 42 million acres burned countrywide. Significant wildfires also affected forests in Russia, Spain, Portugal and Maui in Hawaii.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the United Nations Systems authority on weather, climate and water, reported that the deadliest single wildfire of the year was in Hawaii, with at least 99 deaths reported. It was the deadliest wildfire in the United States in more than 100 years.

According to scientists, El Niño and “heat-trapping greenhouse gases” caused the rising temperatures.

The WMO said in May that in view of El Niño, temperatures are likely to soar and break records over the next five years.

Carlo Buontempo, director of Copernicus Climate Change Service, told Anadolu Agency on Dec. 18 that “the world is in completely uncharted territory and 2023 showed that climate change is happening now.” He added: “With the impact of climate change and El Niño, 2024 is on track to be another record-breaking year.”

Anadolu also quoted Sarah Kapnick, chief scientist at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as saying: “The expectation is that next year it will be even warmer.”

The Philippines had torrid summer months in 2023 when the heat index soared to over 40°C and had a recorded high of 50°C in May in Legaspi City. (The heat index is the measure of discomfort an average person experiences due to the combined effects of temperature and air humidity.) A heat index in the range of 42-51°C is classified as “dangerous,” and heat cramps and exhaustion are a likely result. Heat stroke is probable with continued exposure.

The heat index monitored daily by Pagasa (or the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration) shows that while there were surges of cold temperature in December, there were areas in the country with a heat index of above 40°C. 

On Dec. 27, it was 42°C in Puerto Princesa City and in the province of Masbate, and 44°C in Davao City and in Catarman, Northern Samar. Its forecast for Masbate on Jan 1, 2024, is 43°C.

In its El Niño advisory for December 2023, Pagasa says: “A strong El Niño is present in the tropical Pacific and further intensified, nearing its peak in the coming months, as sea surface temperature anomalies have reached more than 1.5°C. Majority of global climate models suggest that El Niño will likely persist until the second quarter of 2024.”

In other words, the heat is on, for worse or worst. 

Minerva Generalao is the former head of the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Research Department. —Ed.

Read more: Unmasking ‘phantom’ carbon credits in Thailand: A genuine answer to climate change or chimera?

The post Hot new year! appeared first on CoverStory.

The rains are here but hot and dry days may be expected because of El Niño possibly starting between June and July and lasting up to March, according to the Philippine weather bureau Pagasa. 

Elsewhere in the world, forecasters at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said temperatures are likely to soar and break records over the next five years, caused by El Niño and “fueled by heat-trapping greenhouse gases.” The WMO is the United Nations System’s authoritative voice on weather, climate and water.

Pagasa announced the onset of the rainy season in a statement last June 2, citing the widespread rains brought by scattered thunderstorms, Supertyphoon “Betty” (international name: “Mawar”) and the southwest monsoon (habagat) in recent days. 

Welcome news, but…

A graph of Pagasa puts the chance for rainfall to be above normal this June at 40-75%.

This is welcome news after torrid months when the heat index (or the measure of discomfort an average person experiences due to the combined effects of temperature and air humidity) soared to over 40°C, with a recorded high of 50°C.  

During these past months, Pagasa issued heat index information for levels ranging from caution (27 – 32°C), extreme caution (33 – 40°C) and danger (42 – 51°C) and possible dangers to health from continued heat exposure including exhaustion, cramps, and stroke. 

Pagasa said in its June 2 statement that with the start of the rainy season, it would suspend the daily issuance of heat index information starting on that day, to resume on March 1, 2024.

But the relief from hot days and nights may be short-lived or inconsistent. Pagasa also said “monsoon breaks”—or when rain events are followed by dry periods lasting for days or weeks—may occur.

Pagasa reiterated its El Niño Alert issued on May 2: that recent conditions and model forecasts indicated that El Niño may emerge in the coming season (June-July-August) at 80% probability and may persist until the first quarter of 2024. 

El Niño (a Spanish reference to the Christ Child because it was first observed in the month of December) is the warming of the water surface in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. 

Pagasa said El Niño indicators are warmer temperatures, weak winds coming from the east, and fewer clouds (and therefore less rain) over the Philippines.Thus, it increases the likelihood of below-normal rainfall conditions and possible dry spells and droughts in some parts of the country.

Related: Landslides in Leyte: Why the threat persists

‘We need to be prepared’

The impact of El Niño is expected to be global, and not merely confined to areas around the Pacific Ocean. 

“A warming El Niño is expected to develop in the coming months and this will combine with human-induced climate change to push global temperatures into uncharted territory,” said Prof. Petteri Taalas, secretary general of the WMO. 

He added: “This will have far-reaching repercussions for health, food security, water management and the environment. We need to be prepared.”  

According to a news update of the Geneva-based WMO last May 17, El Niño typically increases global temperatures in the year after it develops, in this case, 2024.

There is a 66% likelihood that the annual average near-surface global temperature between 2023 and 2027 will be more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels for at least one year.  

There is a 98% likelihood that at least one of the next five years, and the five-year period as a whole, will be the warmest on record.

Said Taalas: “This report does not mean that we will permanently exceed the 1.5°C level specified in the Paris Agreement which refers to long-term warming over many years. However, WMO is sounding the alarm that we will breach the 1.5°C level on a temporary basis with increasing frequency.”

Lowering global warming to pre-industrial levels is a long-term goal to “significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change.”  The 1.5°C reached in the period 1850-1900 has been used to represent the pre-industrial temperature. 

Limiting the global temperature rise is the global goal stated in the Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change adopted by 196 parties at COP21 in Paris on Dec. 12, 2015, and enforced on Nov. 4, 2016. 

Steady rise since 2015 

According to the WMO, the chance of temporarily exceeding 1.5°C has risen steadily since 2015, when it was close to zero.  Among the details in its report are:

• The average global temperature in 2022 was about 1.15°C, above the 1850-1900 average. The cooling influence of La Niña conditions over much of the past three years temporarily reined in the longer-term warming trend. But La Niña ended in March 2023 and El Niño is forecast to develop in the coming months.

• The annual mean global near-surface temperature for each year between 2023 and 2027 is predicted to be between 1.1°C and 1.8°C, higher than the 1850-1900 average. 

“Global mean temperatures are predicted to continue increasing, moving us farther and farther away from the climate we are used to,” said Dr. Leon Hermanson, an expert scientist who led the WMO report.

Predicted rainfall patterns vary from region to region worldwide. In its regional predictions, the WMO says that “near-surface temperatures in 2023 are likely to be higher than the 1991-2020 average in almost all regions except for Alaska, South Africa, South Asia and parts of Australia,” and that “parts of the South Pacific Ocean are likely to be cooler than average.”

Differing experiences

Similarly, certain parts of the Philippines may differ in their El Niño experience. It will be delayed in the areas affected by the southwest monsoon. The frequent heavy rainfall and humid weather brought by the habagat may reverse the less-rainfall pattern of El Niño.

In a public briefing on May 2, Ana Liza Solis, chief of Pagasa’s Climate Monitoring and Prediction Section, said there may be “above-normal” rainfall in the habagat-affected areas. 

El Niño’s warmer sea surface temperatures create favorable conditions for storms or typhoons.  Though many of these storms will likely dissipate before they hit the Philippines, or recurve around it, they may still enhance the effects of the habagat.

Hence, El Niño may be delayed in the regions affected by the habagat and may start later—in September or October—than in the rest of the country.  (The habagat period usually begins in June and ends around September or October.)  These regions include Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Cordillera Administrative Region, Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, and Palawan) and Bicol.

The post Despite the rains, record-breaking hot days and years may be expected appeared first on CoverStory.

What about Republic Act No. 10913, or the Anti-Distracted Driving Act of 2017, that prohibits the driver—even when temporarily stopped at a traffic light or an intersection—from holding and using a mobile phone? That law covers even those operating agricultural machinery, bicycle riders, and those pushing carts.

Unfortunately, like RA 10054 of 2010, which mandates motorcycle riders and back riders to wear the right type of helmet the moment the ignition is turned on,  these laws were strictly enforced only in the first few months of implementation.

And the ban on smoking? Let’s just say it’s like no-smoking zones are nonexistent.

Enacted 34 years ago

But Makati Rep. Luis Jose Campos Jr. is bent on calling attention to another law that took effect 34 years ago.

Under House Resolution No. 906, Campos has urged the committees on public works and highways chaired by Surigao del Sur Rep. Romeo Momo Sr. and on ecology chaired by Biñan City Rep. Marlyn Alonte to conduct a joint inquiry on why RA 6716, or the Rainwater Collection and Springs Development Law of 1989, was never implemented.

“We want Congress to get to the bottom of the problem so that we can take remedial action, considering that stockpiling rainwater offers a practical way for communities to augment [water] supplies during the dry season, while mitigating potential flooding during the wet season,” Campos said in a recent press statement.

He said that by this time, rainwater harvesting should have formed “part of the national water security roadmap, since we have a lot of rainfall when we are not going through a drought or a dry spell.” 

Had RA 6716 been properly funded and implemented, the Philippines would now have at least 100,000 water wells, rainwater collectors, and springs built and  working in a number of barangays as early as June 1991.

Unfortunately, the funding, which should have been provided under the Department of Public Works and Highways’ budget (and later by local government units under the Local Government Code), never came, and the construction of such rainwater collectors became a private initiative of forward-thinking individuals and organizations who saw their dynamic potential.

Such as journalist Juan V. Sarmiento Jr., who recalls that when he and his family renovated their ancestral house in Putatan, Muntinlupa City, in 2010, they decided to add a piping in the downspout and connect it to a plastic drum in which about 200 liters of rainwater could be deposited.

Related: ‘Water crisis’: Gov’t has no integrated water infrastructure program

Extra water

The water is used for watering plants and other needs, “which means the household spends only for the water that is meant for drinking,” Sarmiento says. He describes his family’s setup as “just a simple one, compared to other designs that involve placing layers of sand, charcoal and pebbles in the drum to filter the water so it becomes potable.”

“But imagine having extra water during rotational water service interruptions, and the fact that the country is expecting El Niño in the coming months,” Sarmiento says.

According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), there is an increased likelihood for the country to transition to El Niño between July and September, and that the phenomenon may last until next year. 

The weather bureau warned that El Niño, caused by the warming of sea surface temperature in the Pacific, increases the likelihood of below-normal rainfall conditions, which could bring dry spells and droughts in some areas of the country. 

“Rainwater collection devices would have been helpful for 

barangays with water supply problems,” Sarmiento says.

During El Niño in 2019, vast parts of the country, including Metro Manila, reeled from a drought that caused widespread water shortages and farm damage. Dams and lakes that supply potable and irrigation water experienced a massive decline because of lack of rainfall.

‘Pocket gardens’

In 2012, then Metro Manila Development Authority Chair Francis Tolentino informed the House committee on ecology that while having a community-wide rain catchment facility was essential, only 18% of the metropolis’ total land area of 636 square kilometers remained open to accommodate projects like a natural rain catchment system or pits and canals.

Instead, Tolentino, now a senator, proposed a Metropolitan Open Space Rainwater Collection System, under which 500- to 1,000-square-meter “pocket gardens” would be developed in strategic locations on government land. He said the gardens would double as underground environmental sinks or temporary storage tanks for rainwater.

One example he cited is located underneath Burgos Circle at Bonifacio Global City in Taguig. Floodwater is impounded in an underground tank that can hold 22,000 liters of water, or more than enough to fill a residential swimming pool, which is later released into Manila Bay.

In 2022, a similar project was undertaken by experts from Baguio and Cordillera universities in the town of La Trinidad in Benguet. Catchment basins were installed on the roof of the Benguet Agri Pinoy Trading Center located beside the strawberry farm.

The basins are used to collect rainwater that is then directed to special containment chambers and pumped 100 meters down the rock bed. The reason for this setup is to recharge the aquifer located underneath this former swamp area.

Under this design, surface run-off water during storms is minimized, thus reducing floods. The stored water helps farmers in the area during the dry season, or when rainfall is few and far between.

Overseeing the project is the Watershed and Water Resources Research Development and Extension Center, which is run by the Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

A similar system is being planned in Burnham Park in Baguio in partnership with the Baguio Water District.

Mall efforts

Understanding the value of water, SM, the largest mall operator in the country, has built rainwater catchment systems in 20 of its malls in flood-prone areas. The systems installed can draw and store a total of 79.2 million liters of rainwater, equivalent to almost 32 Olympic-size swimming pools.

One example is SM Masinag in Antipolo City, in which a rainwater catchment facility was included in the design when it was built in 2009. Today the facility prevents floodwater from inundating the two residential subdivisions nearby, Vermont Park and Vermont Royale. Three 30-horsepower submersible pumps are used to direct accumulated rainwater into a tank that can hold 17.68 million liters, like an average-size residential pool.

During the initial phases of constructing SM CDO Downtown Premier in Cagayan de Oro City in 2015, its developer paid attention to the location which has seen its fair share of heavy flooding. A catchment basin that can hold 13.6 million liters of rainwater, equivalent to about five Olympic-size swimming pools, was built.

Speaking at a global forum organized by the United Nations in May 2013 in Geneva, SM Prime Holdings Inc. president Hans Sy said: “It is evident that the global private sector is becoming increasingly aware of the importance of disaster resilience. My experience has proven that investing in the resilience of company assets simply makes good business sense. We are all aware that disaster resilience is not just the private sector’s business. It is everybody’s business.”

It appears that more and more private individuals and organizations are taking steps to make their neighborhoods more livable. They realize the importance of helping themselves rather than simply waiting for the authorities to overcome funding problems, get their priorities right, or simply wrest free of the grip of inaction.

The post There’s such a thing as a Rainwater Collection Law appeared first on CoverStory.

(Last of two parts) ‘Water crisis’: No cause for worry yet, authorities say

The first order of business is for the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) to put its foot down every time the two water concessionaires close their valves to repair pipes and clean filters during the dry season, according to an activist consumer organization. 

Gerry Arances, convener of the Power for People Coalition, said it was the job of the MWSS to ensure that Maynilad Water Services Inc. and Manila Water Co. Inc. efficiently deliver on their contract with water consumers, especially during the dry season.

“Why does the regulatory body allow maintenance shutdown during the peak season?’’ Arances told CoverStory.ph.

MWSS managers traced service water interruptions in many parts of Metro Manila to the concessionaires’ repair of water pipes and cleanup of water treatment plant filters as the dry season peaks. 

Maynilad serves the west zone of the metropolis, including Cavite province, and Manila Water, the east zone, including Rizal province. 

Asked if the MWSS should fine the concessionaires for supply interruptions, Arances said: “Definitely, that is their role as regulator. If there is no rule yet, MWSS should promulgate rules to curb violations from the concessionaires and protect water consumers.” 

Patrick Lester N. Ty, chief regulator at the MWSS-Regulatory Office, has been quoted in news reports as saying that the agency was studying the possibility of penalizing Maynilad if the supply cutoffs continued.

At the height of the 2019 water crisis, the MWSS slapped a P1-billion sanction on Manila Water for its failure to deliver water to its customers 24 hours a day.

Contingency measures

Sen. Grace Poe has bewailed the lack of coordination among government agencies to address the water shortage ahead of the onset of El Niño. 

The government should have crafted policies and drawn up contingency measures to address the impending crisis given that El Niño is “foreseeable,” said Poe, who chairs the Senate committee on public services. 

“While there are many water-related agencies, there is a drought of common goals that would set clear directions and actions toward water security for all Filipinos,” she said.

The MWSS has a raft of augmentation measures to deal with the shortage of water, including activating deep wells and fast-tracking leak repairs. 

It disclosed plans by the concessionaires to tap 9 million liters per day (MLD) of water from a National Irrigation Administration plant in Cavite, generate an additional 10 MLD in reused water from a plant in Parañaque City, and reuse “backwash water” in La Mesa Dam.  

Through backwashing, dirty water is forced out of the filter bed to flush out accumulated impurities. 

Arances said it was high time the national and local governments revisited the rainwater catchment system, a practical idea that has been enacted into law but has yet to capture the public imagination.  

He said certain local government units had adopted the system but the rest needed to catch up.

“It’s important to reduce the overall need [for water] and lessen the stress on centralized solutions,” he said, referring to large-scale or community-based water impounding dams. 

As early as 1989, the government passed Republic Act No. 6716, which provides for the construction of water wells, rainwater collectors, development of springs and rehabilitation of existing water wells in all barangays. It tasked the Department of Public Works and Highways to lead the construction of these facilities.

Arances said the reforestation of the Sierra Madre should be a top priority if only to preserve the watersheds and reservoirs as sources of water. The MWSS said the reforestation of watersheds was ongoing. 

‘Disjointed water governance’ 

Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, chair of the House committee on ways and means, described “water governance” in the country as “disjointed.” 

After sifting through Malacañang’s National Expenditure Program for this year, the lawmaker stumbled on a well-known fact: The government has no integrated water infrastructure program.  

“If you dig up our documents on the national budget, it’s this high,” Salceda said at last week’s Pandesal Forum in Quezon City, gesturing with his hands. “There’s no single page there that includes an integrated water infrastructure program.’’

If at all, the projects are “scattered” in such agencies as the National Irrigation Administration, Department of Interior and Local Government and Local Water Utilities Administration, he said.   

“In the first place, the Philippines has one of the highest precipitations per year,” Salceda said. “But literally, we can’t hold water. What we need is to build dams.” 

He said San Roque Dam in Pangasinan, built in 2003, was the last such project undertaken by the government.  

The MWSS said the controversial Kaliwa Dam on the boundary of Rizal and Quezon provinces in the Sierra Madre would begin operation by December 2026 and generate an additional 600 MLD for Metro Manila. 

But last February, 240 members of the Dumagat-Remontado tribe mounted a nine-day, 148-kilometer march to Malacañang to demand a halt to the construction of the P12.2-billion project, which threatens to submerge 291 hectares of forests and displace thousands of Sierra Madre folk.  

The Dumagat-Remontado accused the MWSS and the National Council for Indigenous Peoples of railroading the process of consultation by wangling consent from pre-selected pro-Kaliwa Dam signatories, and excluding Sierra Madre Indigenous communities vocally opposed to the project. 

Inequality

Salceda pushed, as a long-term solution, for the creation of a Department of Water Resources that President Marcos Jr. identified as among the priority legislation in his first State of the Nation Address last July. 

The House of Representatives has passed the measure, while the Senate refiled its version. 

Under the measure, the department would act as the main agency to craft policies, and to plan, coordinate, implement and monitor the management of water resources. 

“This water challenge will accentuate the inequality in the lives of poor people,” Salceda said. “We need an institution that has power, so we don’t need to bring everything to the attention of the President.” 

The measure “is very exciting” for the water sector because it seeks the creation of a body responsible for water supply and sanitation, said Ramon “Dondi” Alikpala, former MWSS chair and now CEO of FutureWater Asia. 

According to Alikpala, only 53.9% of Filipino families have household connections, while the rest are “in bad shape.’’ Another 46.3% of households get their drinking water from water refilling stations. And only 87.7% of Filipinos have access to safe drinking water. 

“It now provides synergies among the different users of water. Can we find synergies between waste water and irrigation? Can we find synergy between water supply and hydropower?” Alikpala said at the Pandesal forum.  

Sought for comment, Arances said: “As long as it will pursue mandates that ensure water supply that is ecologically sound, ensure consumers’ welfare and water as a basic right as mandated by existing laws, then it will [synergize efforts at water supply and sanitation].” 

In February, Mr. Marcos ordered the creation of a Water Resources Management Office (WRMO) to manage the country’s water resources, as well as act as a transitory body pending the creation of the proposed department.  

This early, the WRMO should “get its feet wet amid the water shortage being felt by households, businesses, and the agriculture sector,” Poe has said in a statement.

The post ‘Water crisis’: Government has no integrated water infrastructure program appeared first on CoverStory.

Call it déjà vu on a yearly basis.      

The dry season sets in, dam water dips, taps run dry for as long as 12 hours a day in certain parts of Metro Manila, and “water crisis” comes to everyone’s mind. 

What else is new? And El Niño hasn’t even set in yet. What if the rains don’t come when they’re supposed to?  Everyone looks to the government as well as to the private water concessionaires for answers.

Angat Dam is still operating within its normal level, so there’s no cause for worry yet, according to the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS). 

Metro Manila takes 90% of its water from Angat, 9% from Laguna Lake and 1% from deep wells.  

From Angat, which lies deep in the Sierra Madre mountain range in Bulacan province, MWSS allocates 1,600 million liters per day (MLD) to Manila Water Co. and 2,400 MLD to Maynilad Water Services Inc., or a total 4,000 MLD for the metropolis. 

At its minimum operating level of 180 meters, the dam is able to deliver water to the metropolis and to irrigate farms in Bulacan.  At 6 a.m. on April 21, the dam level stood at 196.86m, way above the minimum operating level.  Per authorities, Angat has enough supply for the dry season. 

Where then lies the problem?

Fixing water lines

If supply is cut off at certain hours of the day, it only means that Maynilad and Manila Water are fixing water pipes in their areas of operation, MWSS said.  

Maynilad serves the west zone of the metropolis, including Cavite province, and Manila Water, the east zone, including Rizal province. 

“If there are water interruptions from the two concessionaires, that’s because there are lines that are being fixed,” MWSS field operations manager Jose Alfredo Escoto Jr., said at last week’s Pandesal Forum. 

Both Maynilad and Manila Water also draw water from Laguna Lake, and treat it at their plants in Putatan, Muntinlupa City, and in Cardona, Rizal province, respectively. 

There are times the lake water is turbid and treatment proves very “challenging,” resulting in lower production and lower supply, Escoto said.  

“If plant production is reduced, parts of Paranaque to Cavite will experience low supply,” he said.  

Maynilad said it had to schedule interruptions to give way to the intensified cleaning of filters at its Putatan plant.    

For some Maynilad customers, a 12-hour cut-off has become as normal as hard lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“We have water interruption from 11 p.m. to 11 a.m. That’s good enough because it coincides with our sleep. We don’t get to use the shower in the morning though. But that’s a minor inconvenience,” Joanna Ramos, a resident of Pilar, Las Piñas City, said on Tuesday afternoon. 

Weeks earlier, it was the reverse. Water was available at night, and so they had to stay up late to store water in jugs, drums and pails, Ramos said. It gets more frustrating when Maynilad makes the announcement a mere hour before the scheduled interruption, she added. 

Refreshing news 

But there’s some refreshing news amid the intense heat.  

Last week, the National Water Resources Board granted MWSS’ request to raise its allocation from 50 to 52 cubic meters per second (CMS) during the period April 16-30, boosting the level of La Mesa and Ipo Dams, and increasing the production of the two concessionaires.  

With this, Maynilad said it would halt the water interruptions within the week, except in some areas in Cavite south of Manila.  

Maynilad runs a water system in the north through the Bagbag reservoir in Quezon City, and in the south through the Putatan treatment plant in Muntinlupa. The Bagbag reservoir benefited from the 52 CMS allocation.  

In a worst-case scenario, Manila Water can share its allocation with Maynilad if the latter runs short of supply.  

(Remember the heavy downpour in Metro Manila on April 13, probably the first rain during this year’s summer? What relief it brought to the concrete jungle of 12 million. For 24 hours, it dumped 51.6 millimeters of rainfall in some parts of Quezon City, and 51.33 mm in Angat Dam—a drop in the bucket, but significant enough to slow down the dip in the dam elevation.)

Late in March, President Marcos Jr. himself admitted that the country was facing a water crisis; he then announced the creation of the Water Resources Management Office. 

And yet for MWSS managers, there’s no water crisis, only service interruptions.  

There could be more than meets the eye. The booming population’s demand for water may have long exceeded Angat’s daily capacity of 4,000 MLD — thus the need for other sources of clean water.  

Three years ago, MWSS said Angat’s capacity was insufficient to satisfy the demand of Metro Manila’s more than 12 million residents between 2020 and 2025. That’s why it looked to the controversial Kaliwa Dam in Quezon province to shore up the metropolis’ supply. 

Manila Water’s customers, for example, have grown from 3 million in 1997, when it acquired its concession, to nearly 7 million in 2019, but its allocation of 1,600 MLD is unchanged, according to its officials. 

‘Worrisome’ September 

If anything, Filipinos should brace for the impact of El Niño on the country’s water supply next summer, said former MWSS chair Ramon “Dondi” Alikpala. 

Angat Dam is replenished by rainwater. During the dry season, the water level expectedly dips, but as soon as the rains come during the rainy season, it begins to climb back to a comfortable level. 

“What’s worrisome is September. When El Niño hits us in September and the rains don’t come in June, our concern will be summer next year,” Alikpala, now CEO of FutureWater Asia, said at the Pandesal forum. 

“If the rains don’t come, we won’t reach the safe level of storage in the dam that will carry us to next year. It’s not this year. The concern will be next year if the rains don’t come,” he added. 

El Niño is a climate pattern arising from the warming of waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It’s characterized by below-normal rainfall that could lead to a dry spell. It’s forecast to impact the country between July and September.   

The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) has forecast near-normal rainfall in many parts of the archipelago from May to September.  

“So if we’re going to experience El Niño in June, the coming of rain is not affected at all,” Pagasa hydrologist Ailene Abelardo said in an interview. “We’ll still experience something akin to normal rainfall.’’ 

Before El Niño hits, some areas in the western section of Luzon will experience heavy rainfall induced by the southwest monsoon or “habagat.” But the rest of the archipelago, such as the Visayas and Mindanao, will experience below-normal rainfall.  

Once the southwest monsoon weakens, the same areas in Luzon that experienced heavy rainfall will transition to a dry spell. 

“If El Niño is prolonged, then it becomes critical,” Analiza Solis, chief of Pagasa’s climate monitoring and prediction section, said in an interview. 

According to Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, the dry spell may force more families in rural areas to access water from unsafe sources. 

2 extreme events  

Even so, the public should brace for two extreme events under El Niño: heavy rainfall and dry spell. 

While it’s generally associated with less rainfall, the phenomenon may also enhance the southwest monsoon to induce heavy rain across the country, Solis said. 

During El Niño, cyclones form from warm ocean temperatures, recurve in the atmosphere, and interact with the southwest monsoon, she explained.   

“Remember ‘Ondoy’, ‘Pepeng’? They struck during an El Niño year,” she said, referring to the powerful cyclones in 2009 that cut wide swathes of destruction in the country and left hundreds of people dead.

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