Babe's Eye View article

The scarcity of water—referred to as “blue gold” by some—will become a global concern in the very near future and could in fact be the cause of wars and conflicts, something which has already been foreseen by the United Nations two decades ago. In its report, the UN Development Programme said potential “water wars” are likely “in areas where rivers and lakes are shared by more than one country”—which is exactly what happened with the genocide in Darfur, Sudan.

The conflict has caused the death of hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions more, triggered by a drought that made African farmers decide to fence in their lands to prevent Arab nomads from getting water for their herd. UN Secretary general Ban Ki-moon described the conflict in Darfur as an ecological crisis sparked by global warming, with more conflicts expected in the future.

Like food, water is basic to the survival of man and the scarcity of this basic commodity will undoubtedly spark social unrest. According to an earlier report from Credit Suisse, annual global consumption of water has risen six-fold in the past century, with almost two thirds of the global population (projected to reach nine billion by 2025) living in areas where water will become a scarce commodity.

Obviously, the increased demand has been exacerbated by unmitigated population growth and compounded by environmental pollution. In China for instance, the water problem has become more pronounced over the years as seven of its major rivers have become poisoned mainly due to toxic industrial effluents. Ironically, the Philippines is a country surrounded by water with a coastline that’s almost twice longer than that of the United States, yet millions are now suffering from the lack of water.

Loren Legarda quotes experts who have clearly pinpointed the looming water crisis as “a result of the combination of rapid population growth, the pollution and destruction of freshwater resources, and climate changes that affect the hydrological cycle and consequently, water availability.” Angat Dam supplies 97 percent of the domestic water in Metro Manila and is the source of irrigation for thousands of agricultural lands in Pampanga and Bulacan.

To the Maynilad customers who have suffered from the acute water shortage, the comment of Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda that “the problem is easy to solve” came across as if the government is not aware just how serious and acute the problem is. The fact of the matter is, about three million people were affected, most of them coming from the poor sector of society.

We heard a lot of horror stories about the difficulty of having to wait until dawn for the scheduled resumption of service—only to be disappointed again and again because not a drop would come through their faucets. In many parts of Quezon City, long queues of people armed with pails, drums and all kinds of containers they could carry have become a common sight as they patiently wait for the Maynilad tankers and fire trucks to bring them relief in spite of the fact that the water was somewhat contaminated.

A number of Filipinos with frayed nerves started to shove and push, running out of patience, so it was no surprise when tempers began to flare, resulting in near riots. In any language and whichever way you look at it, these are symptomatic of what one could very well describe as the beginnings of social unrest. And when you need guards, with government even contemplating to call in the troops to ensure the orderly distribution of water, then definitely this is more than just a “problem easy to solve.”

While the lack of rains is a convenient excuse, sources have intimated that poor management, siltation and a leaking bypass gate valve in Angat have aggravated the situation. Fortunately, the water level has risen a little over the past few days (above 159 meters as of this writing) but still dangerously below the normal high level of 212 meters. Another major problem is the large amount of water that is wasted due to busted underground pipes, illegal connections and unreported leaks from the Maynilad sector. But in fairness to Maynilad, it has spent billions over the past couple of years to bring down its systems loss even lower than the current 53 percent.

The recent water shortage has made many people paranoid, convinced that the harrowing situation they experienced could recur anytime in the near future. The government should now start looking at long-term solutions and not react to the problem when it happens again. To start with, we can look at what Singapore is doing with desalination technology. We are surrounded by water and it is but natural for the sea to be an inevitable source of water. Today however, it is still very expensive to desalinate because you need plenty of power generation. Needless to say, that’s another major problem altogether, with major power shortages expected within the next 18 months.

Government says the worst is over, but what we have seen are clear symptoms of a potential social volcano erupting anytime. Unless we seriously look at finding long-term solutions to this water problem, we may just see this social volcano erupt during our lifetime. We have heard the warning many times before, but today, as we see more and more poor people around us, it is clear it can actually happen. In underscoring the plight of the poor, former president Joseph Estrada often quotes that “hunger knows no law.” The spark that can make the social volcano erupt could very well be what we all have taken for granted: water. For desperate people, “thirst knows no law.”