'NCR suffering from water scarcity'
THE National Capital Region (NCR) and its two neighboring regions of Central Luzon and Calabarzon are in «absolute clean water scarcity» by United Nations standards, an expert said Friday.
At a forum in Quezon City, Ramon «Dondi» Alikpala, former Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System administrator and former head of the National Water Resources Board, pointed out that the NCR, Region 3 and Region 4A are experiencing the highest level of clean water scarcity.
Citing the UN threshold, Alikpala said that less than 500 cubic meters (m3) of clean water per person a year is considered absolute scarcity, less than 1,000 m3 per person annually is considered water scarcity, and less than 1,700 m3 means water stress.
In addition, Alikpala pointed out that each person in NCR, Central Luzon and Calabarzon is getting less and less on water.
«It is because even with the volume of water, the population is high, and overtime as our population grows, that volume becomes lower and lower and lower.»
Alikpala also cited the Annual Poverty Survey 2020, which indicates that 54.1 percent of families in the Philippines have household water connections. With this, many families resort to communal faucets and other ways to get clean water.
"[In] most of the regions — 14 out of the 17— less than 50 percent [of families have water taps]," Alikpala said.
Clean water scarcity, the water management expert said, would have an impact on economic growth.
«Most people don't have access to water. And if you don't have that water, people get sick. It's hard to push for economic development. Some children will not go to school,» he said.
«I think it is a problem of management. If you look at places, say, Singapore, it has no water shortage. If they can do it, we also can,» he pointed out.
Roy Bjorklund of Aqua Veritas, a water purification and desalination company, explained that the water price in the Philippines is rising, which may affect consumers, especially the elderly.
«I think they have to knock on the doors of the mayors to tell them to have clean water in our pipes,» Bjorklund commented.
According to nonprofit organization Water.org, 57 million people in the Philippines lack access to a
