Philippines: poor most vulnerable to water crisis

Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Manny Villar warned of a looming crisis on safe drinking water, saying the poor will most likely be vulnerable to the scarcity of the life-sustaining resource.

Villar sounded the alarm in the observance of the World Water Day, which emphasized water quality in its awareness campaign “Clean Water for a Healthy World.”

“Less and less of our people have access to clean, safe drinking water.

“The proliferation of purified water stations in the country’s major cities says it all – what used to be free, as God would want it to be, now costs almost similarly (depending on where you buy it) to petroleum derivatives such as kerosene and diesel. You could just imagine its impact on the population which is predominantly poor,” Villar said.

A 2009 report of the Leadership Group on Water Security in Asia claimed that Asia’s water problems are severe – one out of five people (700 million) does not have access to safe drinking water and half of the region’s population (1.8 billion people) lacks access to basic sanitation.

The report said that as population growth and urbanization rates in the region rise, the stress on Asia’s water resources is rapidly intensifying.

“With the onslaught of the El Niño phenomenon, our problems on rice and crops production threatening our food security have just been compounded.

“We simply cannot survive without clean drinking water, and it is intrinsically linked to health and sanitation, and poverty alleviation. Eventually, it is the poor that will bear the brunt of potable water shortage,” added Villar.

[...] “The next government should make it a priority issue and must pave the way – either through increased public investment or partnership with the private sector, for access to safe water and sanitation.

“Investments in support of infrastructure for generation and distribution must be fasttracked, and the government must extend its efforts to privatize water services outside of Metro Manila,” he said.

He added that government should make drastic efforts to implement environmental laws that seek to protect and preserve our natural resources. He said that our water problem has been aggravated by pollution and unjustifiable destruction of forests and wetlands.

Meanwhile the Department of Health (DOH) reminded the public to make sure that their drinking water is safe in the face of an impending water crisis, and in observance of the “Clean Water & Energy Week”.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo earlier declared, through Presidential Proclamation No. 23, that March 22-28 is “Clean Water & Energy Week for a Healthy World” in support of the United Nations Declaration marking March 22 as “World Day for Water”.

“Make your drinking water safe by bringing it to a rolling boil for at least two minutes,” said DOH Secretary Esperanza Cabral, adding that this will kill bacteria and other micro-organisms that cause diarrhea and other food- and water-borne diseases.

Cabral also reiterated that personal hygiene practices such as washing hands after using the toilet and before and after handling food can be of huge help in the prevention of disease.

Food- and water-borne diseases, such as cholera and typhoid fever, are some of the leading cases of morbidity and mortality in the country.

“Giving attention to clean and safe drinking water is all the more important given the looming water supply shortage due to El Nino,” she said. (PNA)

Source: PNA / Balita, 23 Mar 2010 ;

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