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The water crisis in the Philippines is becoming one of the most urgent environmental threats facing the country today.

“Water is the most critical resource issue of our lifetime and our children’s lifetime. The health of our waters is the principal measure of how we live on the land.” – Luna Leopold, American hydrologist

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A few years back, Reader’s Digest came up with a prediction stating that water is Asia’s looming environmental crisis.

Jim Plouffe, the magazine editor-in-chief at that time, wrote in his editorial: “The environmental challenge we face is quite simple: There is a finite supply of freshwater on Earth, and it’s being consumed by more and more humans, which, in turn, throws the entire water cycle out of whack.”

That’s why the crisis is more pronounced in Asia compared with other continents. “Asia has 60% of the world’s population, but only 36% of the renewable water supply,” says Sandra Postel, director of the Massachusetts-based Global Water Policy Project, a group seeking to save fresh water.

It may still be looming in some parts of Asia, but it is already happening in the Philippines, home to more than 100 million people. Although the country is surrounded by water, the water crisis is already prevalent.

Davao City, which prides itself as having the best fresh water in the country, already has a water problem. At one time, a managing editor of a local daily complained of not having water in their barangay for a couple of hours.

A friend posted a comment that in her area, the drip was so miniscule that she had to wait for a pail to be filled up with water for 30 minutes. She called the water district if there was a repair being made and the other end answered there was none.

Some 75 kilometers away from Davao City, in the town of Bansalan, Davao del Sur, residents of barangay Poblacion Dos were having hard times since for a week already there was no water gushing from their faucets. It means no water to drink, to cook foods, to be used for bathing and washing clothes. A few considered the situation a nightmare.

Metro Manila is a case in point. On March 6, 2019, about 10,000 households across Metro Manila started to lose water supplies. Five days later, the water level in La Mesa Dam – which supplies most of the water needs of the metropolis – reached 68.93 meters above sea level (masl), below its critical level of 69 masl.

“For many residents in Metro Manila, coping with a ‘water supply crisis’ has been part of their daily woes for years,” states IBON Foundation, a non-profit research, education, and information development institution.

Even when water is available, a crucial question remains: is it safe to drink? Once the water coming out from the faucet is discolored, it’s not fit for drinking. A study by the Department of Science and Technology bared that some spring waters are not potable because they contain coliforms, Escherichia coli and other bacteria.

Detractors of mineral water say it is not safe for drinking because “it may block the vascular system of the body.” As for distilled water, it is also not good to drink because “it may cause cancer,” according to a mineral water manufacturer.

“The Philippines will likely experience severe water shortage by 2040 due to the combined impact of rapid population growth and climate change,” predicts the Washington, D.C.-based World Resources Institute (WRI).

Of the 167 countries surveyed by WRI, the Philippines ranked 57th among those which were highly vulnerable to severe water shortage. In Southeast Asia, the Philippines ranked second lowest in terms of per capita water availability per year with only 1,907 cubic meters.

Most of those affected are highly urbanized areas. Even before the WRI survey, a study done by the Japan International Cooperation Agency identified at least nine major cities as “water-critical areas.” These were Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, Baguio, Angeles, Bacolod, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, and Zamboanga.

The situation is nothing new. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the world was already facing a serious water crisis. All the signs suggest that it is getting worse and will continue to do so unless corrective action is soon taken.

“Today, we withdraw water far faster than it can be recharged – unsustainably mining what was once a renewable resource,” deplores Janet Abramovitz, a researcher at the Washington, D.C.-based Worldwatch Institute.

“Water, not oil, is the most precious fluid in our lives, the substance from which all life on the earth has sprung and continues to depend,” wrote Maryann Bird in a Time feature.

Water is even more expensive than gold. “Water is worth more than gold and necessary for survival above all other resources on earth,” pointed out a feature published in South Review.

If the world runs out of oil and other fossil fuels, there are always alternative energy sources. People can live without the precious gold. But without water, the world is outright doomed.

“I do not want to be called the Prophet of Doom, but it pays to listen to concerned quarters who have been warning us that one of the fiercest battles in the future is on water,” said then Senator Franklin Drillon during the First International River Summit held in Iloilo City in 2012. 

Although water is a renewable resource, it is also a finite one. Less than three percent of the world’s water is fresh, and more than 75% of this is frozen – mainly at the North and South Poles.  Of the remaining freshwater available for man to use, 98% lies underground.

“Put in another way, if all the earth’s water were to fit in a gallon jug (4 liters), the available freshwater would be just over one tablespoon,” explains the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Water is finite. “World demand for water doubles every 21 years, but the volume available is the same as it was in the Roman times,” observes Sir Crispin Tickell, former Briths ambassador to the United Nations and one of the organizers of the 1992 Earth Summit. “Something has got to give.”

Around the globe, water tables are falling, underground aquifers are being depleted, lakes are shrinking and wetlands crucial to the survival of plants and wildlife are drying up. But despite all these, the international community ignored the signs.

Water is used in different ways. Domestically, water is utilized by households for drinking, washing, bathing, cooking, watering of gardens and other domestic uses. A household of five needs at least 120 liters of water per day to meet basic needs, Worldwatch Institute said.

“A person can survive only three to five days without water, in some cases people have survived for an average of one week,” says thewaterpage.com. “Once the body is deprived of fluids the cells and organs in the body begin to deteriorate. The presence of water in the body could mean the difference between life and death.”

“No water, no life,” writes Dr. Willie T. Ong in his book, How to Live Longer. “Our bodies are made up of mostly water. The brain contains 74% water; blood contains 83% water; lean muscle has 75% and bone has 22% water.”

Water is also used for industrial purposes – in factories, industrial plants and mines, including the use of water as an ingredient of a finished product.  Water is likewise needed for recreational purposes like those in swimming pools, water skiing, golf courses and other similar facilities in resorts.

Agriculture, however, is the biggest consumer of water. “The challenge is not to get enough water to drink, but to get enough water to produce food,” said Lester R. Brown, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Earth Policy Institute. “We drink, in one form or another, perhaps four liters of water per day.  But the food we consume each day requires 2,000 liters of water to produce, or 500 times as much.”

Data presented by former Agriculture Secretary William Dar during the World Water Day Summit showed agriculture to account for 80% of water usage in the country. By 2025, the water demand may increase to 72,973 million cubic meters.

For domestic and municipal uses, the water demand by 2025 is expected to be 8,573 million cubic meters while the industrial demand is 4,997 million cubic meters. 

Back in 1746, American statesman Benjamin Franklin said: “When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water.” 

“Unlike energy crisis,” commented Klaus Toepfer, former executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, “the water crisis is life threatening.”

Water – not oil! – is the precursor of war in the coming years. “Wars of the next century will be over water,” warned Ismail Serageldin in 1995. Crown Prince Hassan of Jordan said the 1967 Six-Day War was caused by tensions over the Jordan River and its tributaries. “It’s simply a question of survival,” said then Israeli Water Commissioner Meir Ben Meir. “Thirst for water is an ignition to violence.”

Are there people out there listening to the signs of the times?

“Water isn’t just a commodity.  It is a source of life,” Postel reminds. She believes water problems will trail climate change as a threat to human future. 

“We can transition away from coal and oil to solar, wind and other renewable energy sources,” she says.  “But there is no transitioning away from water to something else.”