BY IKE SEÑERES
EXISTING national laws require each and every barangay to build their own water catchment systems, a requirement that could simply be interpreted to mean a lagoon.
As it is now, very few of these barangay units have complied with the laws, and no one seems to be putting them to task for their failure.
As common sense would tell us, there are two purposes for these lagoons. The first reason is to be the embankment system for rain water, so that floods would easily recede when it rains. The other purpose is to embank water in preparation for the “El Nino” phenomenon, the time of the year when the droughts come.
As it always happens, our people fall victim to floods when the rains come, and everyone cries out for a solution the problem.
As it also happens however, our people forget about the flood problem when the rains are gone, and so no one bothers to come up with a solution. The truth is, lagoons are not the ultimate solutions, but these are required by the laws, and these do work, for whatever purpose it may serve.
If only the barangay areas would have drainage pipes (not canals) going out to the rivers and lakes, there would be no need for lagoons, but that is not so.
Aside from solving flood problems and serving as a preparation for El Niño, lagoons could actually become sources of fish and vegetables, and even water fowls like ducks and geese.
Aside from these, lagoons could actually become places for recreation, as people could go boating and fishing in these places. Worst comes to worst, these lagoons could actually become sources of fresh drinking water, using affordable water filtration technologies. Because of these multiple reasons, our people should really go ahead and build these lagoons, even if only for the purpose of complying with the laws.
It seems that there is really no particular agency that is in charge of “producing” water in our overall government structure. Putting it in another way, it seems that there is no specific government agency that is responsible for ensuring the steady supply of water, apart from the natural sources that are already available.
As I see it, the supply chain of water in this country should be managed in a way that is similar to the supply chain of power, wherein there are agencies that are responsible for generation (production), transmission and distribution.
The theory behind power generation is that electricity could be produced out of existing sources or materials, and that could be the same theory used in producing water, being the first stage in the supply chain.
This theory could be valid if we think about “producing” clean water out of lakes, rivers and deep wells. In this case, the production would mean cleaning the raw material (the unfiltered water) through a filtration process so that it would become drinkable. Perhaps the theory would be more understood and appreciated if we apply it to desalination, a process that would convert sea water into fresh water.
The supply chain of power is really very simple. Someone has to generate it (produce it), before someone could transmit it. Once it is transmitted, it could be distributed. That should also be the same supply chain for water. In the case of power however, the supply chain is much simpler, because there is only one kind of electricity.
In the case of water however, there are many kinds (or many qualities) of water. For example, there is water for agricultural, industrial and commercial use (the latter includes residential use). Would it be possible therefore to have just one kind of water, at least in the production stage?
Here in the Philippines, there must be around a dozen government agencies that are involved in the water supply chain either directly or indirectly. Over there in Israel however, there is only one central government agency that is on top of water in the overall.
I think the key to the Israeli approach is the legal theory that there is only one kind of water at least in the production side, even if there would eventually be many kinds (or many qualities) of water when it gets to the distribution side. In Israel, they even have a system that distributes water to root crops and surface crops separately.
Since flood water is so abundant in the Philippines, why not put up gigantic filtration plants all over the country that could quickly pump up and filter water for drinking?
If we are spending so much money for power plants, why don’t we spend that much money too in water filtration plants? It is not fair to compare power with water, but what is the use of power if there is no water to drink?
I am sure that we could survive even without power, but for sure, we could not last long without water. If we do not die from the lack of water, we could die fighting for water, since many experts are already predicting global water wars.
Filtering flood water might be a bit farfetched, but what is more practical is rainwater collection, meaning the collection of rain water in rooftops before these would flow to waste.
As far as I know, there is no acid rain yet in the Philippines, and therefore this is still a safe option. It is not too late to install these devices in existing homes and buildings, and it is surely doable to incorporate these systems in new constructions.
Two Filipino inventors have perfected this method, namely Dr. Antonio Mateo and Engr. Ernie Labuntod. There is no excuse for the deaths of people in the Tacloban storm surge, but the truth is, we did not fully know at that time what a storm surge could do.
We do know however what a drought or a water shortage could do, and therefore we should now do something about this problem before it hits us. (Email bantaygobyerno- subscribe@yahoogroups.com or text +639083159262)/PN
