THERE IS WATER EVERYWHERE
BUT WE CRY ‘TUBIG!’ IN SUMMER
By Manny Piñol
There are important factors which contribute to successful agriculture – land, sunlight and water.
Of the three, it is water which is indispensable.
You could produce vegetables through hydrophonics without soil; you could use artificial lightning for photosynthesis but there is no substitute for water.
Water is one of the Philippines’ greatest resource.
The yearly typhoons inundate the plains as water overflows the rivers and creeks which all empty to the seas surrounding the country.
The irony of it all is that during summer and after about three months without rain, agriculture comes to a stop as the land is parched and dry and everybody cries for water.
Water management is our country’s weakest program as we allow the excess water in our rivers and creeks to simply flow out to sea.
In the desert of Southern California and Israel, agriculture is thriving in spite of the absence of rivers and rain.
As early as 1776, American engineers built the great canals with reservoirs which gathered all available water to be distributed to the agricultural plains.
Israel has a more interesting story as told by Seth Siegel in the book “Let There Be Water” detailing how the small desert nation became a major agriculture stakeholder by very accurate and precise water management.
Even water used in kitchen sinks and toilet bowls is recycled for agriculture use in Israel.
There is a need for this country to implement a well-coordinated and cohesive Water Management Plan or else Philippine Agriculture will not be able to feed the Filipinos of the next generation.
Ours is a dire situation. Headsprings are disappearing because of the cutting of trees in the watershed areas, rivers run dry during the summer months because there has been no attempt to manage the water.
Born and raised in the farm, I have a deep and lasting impression on why many of the head springs disappeared over the years and this was mainly because of the unfettered attack on the remaining forests of the country.
When I was Mayor of M’lang, North Cotabato, I implemented a massive small water impounding program which built levees in creeks to catch the water during the rainy season for use of the farmers during the dry season.
These water impounding systems are still working until today and this is a project which could be replicated elsewhere in the country.
The Department of Agriculture has the Bureau of Soil and Water Management (BSWM) which we are starting to strengthen now.
However, we could not do it alone and by ourselves.
Every government agency must really join a national advocacy to conserve and manage our water resources which should start with the protection of the watershed areas.
This is a task that must urgently be implemented.
In fact, the deadline for the implementation of a National Water Management Plan should have been Yesterday.
(The first two photos were downloaded from public website while the third photo shows the cover of the book on the Israel water management experience written by Seth Siegel.)
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