Water crisis inevitable, warns Greenpeace

THE Philippines is headed for an inevitable water crisis, says environment group Greenpeace.

Citing experts’ predictions, the 2003 Philippine Environment Monitor (PEM) warned that by the year 2025, there will be a water availability deficit in several river basins such as Pampanga and Agno, in Pasig-Laguna, Cagayan Valley, all other regions in Luzon, in Jalaur and Ilog Hibangan, and in Cebu.

A water crisis means that there will be a lack of clean water, says Greenpeace campaigns director Von Hernandez. And despite the country’s plethora of water laws, he says the situation is expected to worsen in the future.

In anticipation of the crisis, Greenpeace has launched a 49-page report, “The State of Water in the Philippines,” that focuses on water pollution and reviews the country’s existing legal and policy frameworks for water use, quality control and management.

Read the Greenpeace report.

The report stresses the following:

• the quality of fresh water sources is steadily declining while the costs of obtaining clean water is rising
• although many laws have been enacted to protect water, these are among the most blatantly abused environmental laws because of poor enforcement
• although many government agencies monitor water quality, the parameters are severely limited and do not include many toxic substances from new technologies
• declining water quality is compounded by the problem of water scarcity which is now a very palpable threat, making access to clean water more and more difficult

Of the 525 bodies of water in the Philippines, only 208 or 39 percent are classified as class AA and A, which mean that they are potential sources of drinking water.

Greenpeace tested the water in Metro Manila, Laguna, and Bulacan. In Metro Manila, they found no significant chemical contamination in samples from Angat and Ipo dams. However, one of three tap water samples contained trihalomethanes (THM) and traces of the chlorinated solvents trichloroethene and dichloropropene, which are both industrial chemicals. THM has been linked to cancer and reproductive health problems, while TCE is a carcinogen and has been linked to liver and kidney disease. Dichloropropene may also cause cancer.

THM and an elevated zinc level was also found in a groundwater sample taken from a well near the Payatas landfill. Bottled water purchased in Metro Manila contained higher than usual levels of zinc and traces of the more unusual contaminant bis(chlorophenyl)sulphone.

In Laguna, a range of chlorinated solvents, as well as potentially toxic and irritating acrylate esters, the oestrogenic chemical nonylphenol and the phthalate esters DEHP and DnDP found in wastewater discharges. Copper was found in a groundwater sample collected in the vicinity of Light Industry and Science Park 1.

In Bulacan, there was no significant chemical contamination in samples from Angat River and groundwater sources. However, one of two tap water samples contained THM as well as a relatively high level of zinc.

Greenpeace toxics campaigner Beau Baconguis said that the study was not conclusive. “But what it shows are indications of localized contaminants.” Greenpeace says that the country’s environmental standards are based on assumptions that some pollutants are safe. “But once pollutants are released into the environment, they remain there. They enter the food chain,” says Hernandez.

Among the laws and decrees to protect water are Republic Act 8041, the National Water Crisis Act, and Republic Act 9275, the Clean Water Act. However, Greenpeace cites a report by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), which notes that while the Philippines has set several standards for clean water, “the Philippine system of industrial effluent standards appears to be relatively insensitive to actual ambient conditions and to different cost structures due to their use of concentration-based standards.” This also encourages polluters to meet standards by dilution and the over-extraction of groundwater in heavily industrialized areas.

Another problem is that over 30 government agencies and offices are in charge of different aspects of water resource management and development. This creates conflicts of interests and overlapping that hinder effective water resources management.

One solution to a looming water crisis is what Greenpeace calls clean production. This redesigns products and product systems so that they are more attuned to natural processes throughout the products’ entire life cycle. Clean production promotes the use of renewable energy and minimal resource inputs that are non-toxic in a closed loop and sustainable system.

The manufacture of electronics tends to demand a lot of chemicals, energy, and water. Some global companies with operations in the Philippines however, have pledged to begin to phase out the most toxic chemicals in their products and product systems. Nokia for example, has already eliminated polyvinylchloride (PVC) from their new mobile phone models, and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from remaining applications.

“The water crisis which we see to be inevitable will only be stopped by detoxification of waste,” says Hernandez.