Group scores 'band-aid' solutions to water problem
Environmental group Green Forum-Western Visayas called as “band-aid solutions” the measures undertaken by Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) in trying to address water supply problems faced by its concession area.
In a press statement issued to various media outlets yesterday, Melvin Purzuelo of Green Forum-Western Visayas said that “the cleaning of the sedimentation ponds, installation of the by-pass pipe systems, and putting-up of gabion walls several hundred meters from the reservoir are 'band-aid solutions' and far from any long-term answers to the problem.”
Purzuelo feared that there is big possibility that MIWD's concession areas which include Iloilo City will suffer more from water shortage in the coming dry months.
“Typhoon Frank caused massive erosion that wore down the biota and humus of the soil and degraded the water-holding capacity of a large part of the Maasin Watershed. If Metro Iloilo is having water shortage during these rainy months then it will suffer more in the coming dry months,” he said.
Purzuelo also noted that water flow of several tributaries in the Tigum River headwaters has not yet cleared eight months after the typhoon.
“The sand trap of MIWD’s by-pass pipes accumulates about 1 meter deep of soil every other day. Another typhoon and all the sedimentation ponds, by-pass pipes and even the distribution pipes could be clogged again,” he observed.
Purzuelo added that most MIWD consumers resort to shallow wells for domestic and potable water use during the shortage which poses health risk. He said their group, in an earlier study, found out that the water quality of 191 communal shallow wells of 26 barangays in Jaro, Mandurriao and Lapaz showed that fifty-five percent (55%) are contaminated with fecal coliform (E. coli) organism.
“It is time for all concerned agencies to seriously tackle and invest on appropriate technologies and strategies to address this impending water catastrophe,” Purzuelo said.
He lamented that “until now there is no clear structure that rationally manages the Maasin Watershed.”
“Supposedly, there is the people’s organization, KAPAWA (Katilingban sang Pumuluyo sa Watershed), that has the tenurial instrument of the DENR issued Community-Based Forestry Management Agreement (CBFMA). However, KAPAWA is still tied with DENR that asserts its jurisdiction as head of the Protected Area Management Board (PAMB). Then there is the Tigum-Aganan Watershed Management Board (TAWMB) chaired by the Iloilo Governor plus the distinct clout also of the MIWD and the Maasin, Alimodian and Janiuay LGUs,” Purzuelo observed.
He added, “the EMB-DENR is now also organizing the Tigum-Aganan Water Quality Management Board as mandated by the Clean Water Act. These bureaucratic management bodies with interlapping membership and functions pose serious obstacles to the effective and immediate actions needed in addressing Metro Iloilo’s water problems.”
Earlier, it was reported that the World Bank (WB) and the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) have extended support to the MIWD to help improve its water supply capacity.
WB through the intervention of Mayor Jerry Treñas gave MIWD US$300,000 worth of technical assistance.
The money will be used to conduct a feasibility study on how to improve the water supply which hopefully will start middle of this year.
Treñas also said that LWUA administrator Prospero Pichay is also coordinating with his office and signified their intention to help.
Initially, LWUA is looking into tapping the Jalaur River as one alternative source of water supply.
“These are long term plans,” Treñas said. (With reports from PNA)