The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) is pushing for the creation of the Department of Water (DWR) and Water Regulatory Commission (WRC) to integrate the country’s governance and regulation of water resources and achieve water security.
A NEDA policy note released recently underscored the need to address institutional fragmentation and improve infrastructure planning and management of the country’s water sector.
“In light of the challenges our country is experiencing under a fast-changing climate, the push for sound water governance is more urgent than ever before. As outlined in the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028, our strategies are aimed at strengthening water security, ecological integrity, and resilience to hazards by improving water governance through integrated water resource management,” NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said.
“This move is also in line with the Integrated Water Resources Management Plan, which aims to ensure that everyone has access to sufficient water supply at any given time,” Balisacan said.
The policy note also said that while the Philippines is rich in water resources, it is challenged by the uneven access to water supply across different regions of the country.
It said while 97.6 percent of Filipino families use improved drinking water sources and 84 percent have access to basic sanitation services, the Philippines is still behind other countries in Southeast Asia in terms of access to basic sanitation services.
Access to these services is highest in Singapore (100 percent), followed by Malaysia (99.7 percent), Vietnam (96 percent), Brunei (94 percent) and Cambodia (88 percent).
The policy note said population growth drives increasing demand for water, exacerbating the risk of water scarcity, and without significant changes in water management, parts of the Philippines are projected to endure extreme water stress by 2050.
Balisacan said the overlapping and conflicting mandates across many areas in water governance hampers the ability of government to improve water service delivery and resource protection.
“Without a central agency responsible for water policy, there is a heavy reliance on ad hoc coordination. Conflicting priorities among agencies result in uncoordinated planning and strategies, as well as inconsistencies in the enforcement of water policies and standards,” Balisacan said.
“Our push for the creation of a central entity in the water sector will also help us institutionalize the collection and consolidation of water-related data that will help us produce more informed assessments and formulate smarter solutions in the utilization and management of our resources,” Balisacan said.
