Be part of the solution

Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a model which depicts hierarchical

human needs within the pyramid. These needs include the physiological needs such as
food and clothing, security or safety needs, love and belonging needs, esteem and
lastly, the self-actualization needs. The bottom most part is where the most basic needs
are placed: the food and clothing needs. Water is considered part of the food category
under the human basic needs. And sadly, many of the Filipino citizens still lack and
experiencing shortage or scarcity of water.
The earth consists of 71% of water but only 1.2% out of this 71% is available for
human consumption. People rely on fresh water but most of us has inaccessible fresh
water. The population of the Philippines, which is more than 111, 444, 399 as of today,
October 14, 2021, would not meet their needs in sharing just 1.2% of this water.
Moreover, it just adds up to many problems that the government needs to solve.
Some people may keep their faucet open while they are washing dishes. Some
put their showers open; enjoying every sprinkle and flow of the water that comes out
from their pipes. Some car washing business pays so high in their water bills. Yet, many
of our fellowmen, still do not have safe and potable water to pour in their glasses. Many
studies, documentaries and real life stories have revealed this bitter truth.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are about 2.2 billion
people who do not have safe and potable drinking water. On the other hand, there are
4.2 billion people in the world that do not have access to basic sanitation services.
These issue is real time and it gets worst and worst, now that we have a bigger threat
that adds burden in this water shortage, the Pandemic. The data of these issue is
worldwide. Now, how about in the Philippines?
In the Philippines, there are almost 5 million people who suffer every day
because of scarcity of water, this is according to the World Health Organization. The
WHO further claims that 1 out of 10 Filipinos does not have access to improved water
resources. Grasping the idea of this shortage of water in the Philippines indeed hurts
me. Moreover, knowing and unlocking the truth behind every reason of this shortage
hurts me more.
Studies reveal that climate change, climate disasters, increased human
consumptions of water, water overuse and wastage, water pollution and increased
freshwater demand are the reasons of water shortage in the Philippines. As we would
see in these studies, the environment and the movement of people really peaks high in
the scarcity of water. If all of these would never be stopped, prevented or even just
managed, we would have a big problem in the coming years of our lives here on earth.
The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), an international non-governmental
organization founded in 1961, reveals that by 2025, about two-thirds (⅔) of the earth’s
population could suffer or could face water shortages. If there is no proper
precautionary measures or strategies to attack this issue, this would be a very big
problem in the world because lack of safe water could lead to poorer hygiene practices,
dehydration and other serious diseases and even death.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP), reveals that there are
2,195 children dying because of diarrhea, more than the death cases of AIDS, malaria
and measles combined making diarrhea the second leading cause of death among
children under age of 5 in the world. In the Philippines, it ranks as the fifth leading cause
of death in all age groups. The Statista Research Department published a report in
September 13, 2021, which says that our country has approximately reached 164, 450
in 2018. That data is more than 12, 000 in the previous year.
We cannot deny the fact that one of the causes of diarrhea in the Philippines is
scarcity of water. The main sources of water in the country came from rivers, lakes,
basin and under water reservoirs. In reality, David and Inocencio in their study in 1996,
shows that the medium of water provision is dependent on the income class of the
certain household. The higher income class have source of water from private
waterworks while lower income brackets depends on the water sold by those who have
access to private waterworks.
The saddest thing is that, the lower-income households pay much higher water
prices than higher-income households because they lack of access to water service
providers. The majority of these Filipinos just drink what they can fetch near them and
leads them to drink contaminated water. Now, the burdens of their lives are worst due to
pandemic plus the shortage of water they are experiencing.
The drought and scarcity runs in the country where in fact in March 17, 1989,
Republic Act No. 6716 was put in the law. It is also known as an act providing for the
construction of water wells, rainwater collector, development of springs and
rehabilitation of existing water well in all barangays in the Philippines. In the tittle itself, it
was even decades ago that the Republic of the Philippines has interventions with this
current problem by aiming to promote quality life of every Filipino by providing adequate
potable water supply to every barangay in the country. It saddens me to realize that the
data and information provided by different local and international institutions above
show that the government has not performed well in implementation of this law.
The Philippines is carpeted with blades of green; it has an agriculture crown.
Thus, water in the Philippines is not just used for consumption. During summer, the
water banks of the country run dry leading people to have limited access in bath,
drinking and watering the arid plains. Some households spend their sleepless nights in
waiting for their pails and drums to be filled by droplets from the faucet. Sometimes the
pails and drums are filled, sometimes, they are not. Most of the agricultural population
of the country pays big in water irrigation and/or waits endlessly for the rainwater.
With that said, Filipinos wait for rainy season to come. The majority regards rainy
season as a season of calamity because it is the time when numerous typhoons visit
the country. On the other hand, some considers it as the days of flourishment of either
for their personal or agricultural use. We can clearly see that the water pumps which is
said to benefit at least 30 families is not enough to the extent the Filipinos eagerly wait
for the rainy seasons to have full access of water.
As a Filipino, I feel the grief of lacking water for consumption and personal use.
Thus, I must take part in conserving water because I can only help by conserving. In our
house, my parents always tell us to turn off the faucet while brushing, use basins while
washing the dishes, use low flow shower head and fix leaks in the faucet. These actions
are all contributory in conserving water for our fellowmen.
Our barangay captain also encourages us to harvest rainwater for our future use.
We can use the gathered rainwater for car washing, watering the plants and cleaning
the house. The people in our community also start to dig ponds and install rainwater
catching ducts and filtration system for expanding the water reservoir. The National
Irrigation System in our community also cleans the irrigation canals before planting
season. According to them, this is done to minimize water loss by water seepage.
No environmental issue in this world would ever be solved without the
collaboration of the people who live in it. Let us be one with the sustainable
development goal number 6: Clean Water and Sanitation of the United Nations by
reducing our pollution, eliminating dumping hazardous materials in the water and
increasing recycling. If we do these things, we can potentially improve water supply
through innovation and improving the water quality by fighting pollution.
In addition, the government should raise awareness on this water crisis by
promoting environmental friendly materials such as eco-bags and reusable water bottles
in order to reduce solid waste in the different bodies of water. The government should
also inspire its people to innovate water technology that would long term help the whole
population of the country just like the use of Hydro Panels in Palawan, which works by
utilizing solar energy to run power fans and take moisture in the air and convert it into
water. Without a doubt, the government should invest the money of the country in these
types of innovations and not for the useless projects which just intends for aesthetics
purposes. Indeed, the government should be wiser in spending the money of the
country.
When these are all done, I can see a silver lining in the eyes of the Filipinos that
they no longer need to wait for the rainy season to have water for their consumption and
agricultural use. We should assume and play our roles in the community for us, and the
future generations, to have a brighter future. Let us save and conserve water. As
Eldridge Cleaver quoted, there is no normality in this world: we are either part of the
solution or we are part of the problem. You and I should be part of the solution.

Reference article:
https://reliefweb.int/report/philippines/philippines-new-water-sources-bring-new-
opportunities