Apex body needed to oversee water management — experts

Experts on water distribution and security agree that an apex government body with the mandate of "orchestrating, coordinating, and directing" different water-related agencies should be created to ensure holistic water management in the Philippines.

At a water crisis forum on Thursday, Dr. Guillermo Tabios III of the UP Diliman National Hydraulic Research Center said that there is a need to integrate the operations of agencies in charge of flood control, water conservation, and irrigation, to name a few.

Ramon Alikpala, former chair of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) and CEO of Futurewater Asia, agreed that a regulatory body for water is needed in the country.

"MWSS is Metro Manila. LWUA [Local Water Utilities Administration] is responsible for water districts alone... LGUs [local government units] without water districts are responsible for their own water systems—so it's a very convoluted problem in terms of governance," Alikpala said.

He added that water management is a success factor in ensuring water security.

The Duterte administration recently expressed openness to the idea of creating a Department of Water.

Meanwhile, other potential water sources in the Philippines were identified by Dr. Patricia Sanchez of the UP Los Baños Interdisciplinary Studies Center for Water, including the Pampanga River Basin, Agos Watershed, the Pasig-Marikina River, Laguna Lake Basin, Angat Watershed, and Umiray Watershed.

Aside from scouting for alternative water sources, tempering the increasing water demand amid the concern on possible water shortage in the coming years was also raised in the forum.

Improving water loss reduction, water reuse, drainage management, pressure management, rainwater harvesting, pricing policies, use of water-efficient fixtures, and water conservation were among the suggested solutions. — BM, GMA News