WITH El Niño and a water crisis looming on the horizon, we have to ask the barangays and local government units: Why don’t your barangays have rainwater harvesting facilities as mandated by law?
Yes, we have a 34-year-old law that requires the construction of rainwater collectors in all barangays. But the truth of the matter is that majority – if not all – of barangays do not harvest rainwater. They have not built rainwater collectors.
Go check your barangay. Ask your barangay captain and councilmen where your village’s rainwater harvesting facility is.
The non-implementation of the Rainwater Collection and Springs Development Law of 1989, or Republic Act No. 6716 is negligence.
Let us 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.
In fact, rainwater harvesting should form 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.
We are counting on the new Water Resource Management Office (WRMO) to give the highest priority to the installation of rainwater collectors throughout the country.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in February approved the creation of the WRMO as part of the government’s efforts to address what he called a “water crisis” threatening the country.
Last month, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration warned of an approaching El Niño that has a 55 percent chance of developing in the July-August-September 2023 season and may persist until 2024.
When the Philippines went through an El Niño in 2019, vast parts of the country, including Metro Manila, reeled from a drought that caused widespread water shortages and farm damage, after dams and lakes that supply potable and irrigation water experienced a massive decline in rainfall. Are we prepared for another severe El Niño?
