Water

AN environmental watchdog has joined the mounting call for water conservation as the water level in Angat dam continues to plummet because of the lack of rains.

LUZON could face three-hour blackouts this year if the power demand reaches a peak of 7,900 megawatts and power plants break down, while the summer is likely to bring water shortages later in the year, an official told the Manila Standard.

MANILA, Philippines—Over 1.5 million households outside Metro Manila have no access to safe, clean drinking water, according to the Department of Interior and Local Government.

MANILA, Philippines – Some 17 million Filipinos still do not have access to safe water while 25 percent of the population does not have “individual type of sanitation facilities,” an administration lawmaker said yesterday.

FOOD production and even economic growth in Asia, including the Philippines, will be under threat owing to the expected 40-percent shortfall in water supply and demand in the region by 2030, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said.

SOME 600 representatives from 53 countries gathered yesterday to discuss ways to address Asia’s water needs as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) kicked off an international conference in Manila.

The Philippines consumes a lot of water, due mostly to its relatively large population of nearly 100 million. Water is used for farm irrigation, for power generation, for sewage and sanitation, for household and industrial use, and for human and livestock consumption, among other things. And all these are adversely affected by seasonal supply problems.

WATER pollution is claiming the lives of 18 to 25 Filipinos a day. In a year, 4 million people die from water-related diseases, which make up 31 percent of all illnesses in the country. One child dies every 20 seconds because of dirty and polluted water.

The Philippines is surrounded by water, and we get plenty of rain. But, guess what, we have a water crisis. And guess why, management or, should I say, the lack of it. Inaction by the two administrations since that of Fidel Ramos.

Back in 1998, Victorico P. Vargas was in Bangkok as Citibank’s country human resource head, a job he held for two years and which allowed him every now and then to indulge in one of his early, pre-banking day passions – basketball.

“A MAN will fight over three things,” the late US Sen. Barry Goldwater once mused. “Water, women and gold, usually in that order.” Goldwater’s remark resonates in recent threats of riots over water shortages in 177 barangays of Metro Manila. Dry taps signal a hair-trigger threat. We ignore the threat at our children’s peril.

UH-OH, LESS than a month into the Aquino (Part II) administration and already, tap water is becoming a political commodity. Now, the guys down here in my barangay must not only worry about tap water getting too costly. They must also contend with the problem of shortage.

MANILA, Philippines – Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson yesterday blamed administrators of the Angat dam in Bulacan for the water crisis in the concession area of Maynilad Water in the western sector of Metro Manila.

Water faucets in Metro Manila’s west zone or those serviced by Maynilad Water Services Inc. may end up dry in the next two months should the rains continue to miss the Angat dam in Bulacan. Herbert Consunji, Maynilad Water officer-in-charge, said in a press conference Monday that this is the likely worst-case scenario facing the…

Based on a United Nations data, approximately 2.3-million liters of water is used daily by an 18-hole golf course.

Suddenly, it’s summer! The heat is on. And we don’t really mean the frenzied presidential campaign, with elections just around the proverbial bend. Also making big news is our water shortage problem due to the decline in he water level in Angat Dam, which supplies 97 percent of Metro Manila’s raw water, due to the…

UNITED NATIONS – More people die from unsafe water than from all forms of violence, including war, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday in a message to mark World Water Day.

MANILA, Philippines – Hospitals and other health care services greatly endanger the country’s diminishing water supply because of improper disposal of infectious waste and toxic chemicals in canals and other bodies of water.

In my recent columns, I started my denouement of the fictitious achievements of the Arroyo administration. Just after that, Newsweek, a highly reputed international magazine read by millions had a full page on “Asia’s laggard.” That laggard is the Philippines.

MANILA, Philippines –  The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) yesterday appealed to the public to start conserving water “in the face of a limited water supply” even as it disclosed that there is no water crisis yet in the metropolis.

Criminal and administrative charges were filed against the water utility regulator in greater Metro Manila and two water concessionaires serving the capital region for failing to build sewerage plants as mandated by law.

If you haven’t seen The Ugly Truth, you should. If you’re one of those people who consider it sinful to utter the word penis, don’t. The film is full of what conservatives call smutty language which seems to be a catch-all phrase for psycho-analytic babble that seeks to demystify the sexual relationship between men and…

If you look at the numbers, it is hard to see how many East African communities made it through the long drought of 2005 and 2006.

HONG KONG’s Maynilad Water Services Inc., the water concessionaire operating the western zone part of Metro Manila, is not opposed to the development of the Laiban Dam project in Tanay, Rizal but has objected the proposed “take or pay” provision of the agreement.

MANILA, Philippines – Malacañang warned households and farmers to brace for a possible water crisis as the country could be hit by drought before the end of the year or early next year.

In the interest of fairness, we’d like to devote some space to the reaction of Administrator Diosdado Jose Allado of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) to criticisms we had raised in an earlier column against the multi-billion Laiban dam project, conceived to address the long-term water requirements of Metro Manila as well as…

State-run Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) said that the impending privatization of the Angat hydroelectric power plant may adversely affect Metro Manila’s water supply.

LAIBAN LEAKS: Like water trickling out of an old pipe, details of a gigantic contract to be awarded without competitive bidding have started to leak from the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System in what looks like another unfolding scandal.

There is more than enough water in the world to quench the thirst of mankind many times over. Yet, an Asia Society report released this April warns an emerging water crisis could trigger security problems in Asia. In other words, war could break out between provinces or regions in one country, or between Asian nations,…

Environment Secretary Lito Atienza yesterday issued notices of violations to Manila Water Sewerage System, Maynilad Water and Manila Water for their failure to put up sufficient wastewater treatment facilities.