ACCORDING to the United Nations, people living in the slums of Manila, Jakarta (Indonesia) and Nairobi (Kenya) pay five to 10 times more for water than those living in high-income areas in those same cities and more than consumers in London or New York. In Manila, the UN further said, the cost of connecting to the utility represents about three months’ income for the poorest 20 percent of households.
Do you know that access to clean water and sanitation is a human right?
The UN General Assembly explicitly recognizes the human right to water and sanitation through Resolution 64/292 passed on July 28, 2010. It acknowledges that clean drinking water and sanitation are essential to the realization of all human rights and calls upon States and international organizations to provide financial resources, help capacity-building and technology transfer to help countries, in particular developing countries, to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all.
Providing access to clean and safe drinking water to all Filipinos remains a huge challenge. On top of that, studies show that there is a looming shortage of water in our country.
In the report “Progress on Sanitation and Drinking Water: 2015 Update and MDG Assessment” by the World Health Organization, an estimated 7.1 million Filipinos openly defecate and another one million Filipinos use unimproved sanitation facilities, such as buckets or pits, as toilets. Some 3.5 million Filipinos rely on surface drinking water sources, such as rivers, dams, lakes, ponds, canals, streams, and irrigation channels; while another 5.09 million use unimproved drinking water sources, such as tanker trucks, unprotected dug wells and springs.
Meanwhile, a study of the World Resources Institute projected that the Philippines will experience a “high” degree of water shortage by 2040, which will substantially affect the agriculture sector.
What should we do? National and local governments may explore nature-based solutions and strictly enforce existing laws in order to prevent water crisis and shortage.
Nature-based solutions for water have potential, such as restoring wetlands for water storage and soil moisture; conservation agriculture to prevent soil erosion; and reconnecting rivers to floodplains to mitigate flooding due to climate change. We should explore further how these could complement our existing measures and policies to prevent a water crisis.
National and local government officials must also ensure that landmark laws on water, such as the Clean Water Act and the Rainwater Collector Act, are implemented to augment water supply and provide safe drinking water and sanitation facilities to those without access to it.
Let us reinforce our efforts to protect and preserve water, which flows and brings life to us all.
