Mas lalong nabigyang diin ang pangangailangan sa Department of Water Resources dahil sa water crisis na nararanasan ng bansa ngayon ayon kay Ways and Means Committee Chair Joey Salceda.
Aniya, malaking dahilan ng kakulangan sa tubig ay ang kabiguan na i-manage o pamahalaan ng maayos ang mga pinagkukunan ng tubig.
“That’s why we need the Department of Water Resources. Many people don’t get it. It’s not just another new agency. It’s an institutional solution to a decades-old problem of treating water resources as a peripheral and dispersed concern for government,” diin ni Salceda.
Dagdag pa nito na sa tuwing magkukulang ang suplay ng tubig ang demand side o paggamit ng customer sa tubig ang hinihigpitan.
“Our water systems are constructed with little regard for source development. We don’t collect enough surface water, and when we want to, we don’t know whom to talk to in government. We can only tighten our belts so much with demand management. The real issue is supply management, and we’ve been failing for decades,” paliwanag ng mambabatas.
Habang tinatapos pa ng Kongreso ang panukalang bubuo sa Department of Water Resources, naglatag si Salceda ng ilang paunang solusyon.
Una rito ay ang masinop na paggamit ng agriculture sector sa tubig partikular sa irigasyon at paggamit ng mga engineering solutions para mapababa ang evaporation ng tubig sa mga dam.
Halimbawa aniya nito ang paglalagay ng polymer para takpan ang mga dam at desilting.
“The most economic point-of-view here is simple: We need agriculture to be more efficient with water use….So, we need to invest in more precise irrigation, so that we don’t waste all that water,” pagbabahagi ng Albay solon.
“We need to learn from the way other countries control evaporation. There are engineering solutions to that. Some countries simply cover the dams with some polymer. I’ve seen a California reservoir manage evaporation by covering the entire surface of their reservoirs with dark floating plastic balls. We need to get creative with this,” pahayag ng kinatawan. | ulat ni Kathleen Jean Forbes
