By Mary Ann Palomar, Haribon Member
Green Convergence holds 353rd Kamayan Para sa Kalikasan Forum highlighting problems on water security amid climate change in Metro Manila and nearby provinces at Kamayan EDSA, on September 20, 2019.
During the forum, Federico Lopez, Chairman and CEO of the First Philippine Holdings discussed about the fast changing climate conditions across the planet including the melting of cryospheres or polar ice and some of the biggest ice locks.
He added that the shrinking of glaciers will greatly impact our freshwater supply and the global temperature may rise to an additional 1 degree celsius by permafrosts (or frozen grounds) holding around 570 gigatons of carbon.
To halt the rise of global temperature, carbon emission must be cut by 50% in 2030 and down to zero emission by 2050.
According to Lt. Gen. Emmanuel B. Salamat, Administrator of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), more people will populate urban areas by 2030, which poses greater issues to water supply.
For this reason, the Angat dam originally constructed in 1967 was strengthened in 2018 and efforts to increase its reserve capacity are underway. Other initiatives in the 2020 water management plan also include the early implementation of cloud seeding (Jan – March 2020) and the reactivation of deep wells for domestic use as well as the identification of alternative water reservoir.
In response to the ongoing water supply-demand issue, Salamat cited several management schemes by the MWSS including the increase of year-end reservoir elevation from 212 to 215 meters, water pressure management program, rotational water services interruption, and information campaigns on responsible water use.
Pailo Pagaduan, program manager of World Wild Find (WWF) Philippines for Water, then emphasized the need to decentralize, democratize, digitalize, and decarbonize water management.
Environmental coalition Green Convergence advocates for a sustainable solution to the water issue and staunchly opposes the construction of mega dams such as the Kaliwa Dam that is criticized to have massive environmental impacts.
Mary Ann Palomar, DEM is a Haribon Member.
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