Gov’t to harness solar, wind power for waterless areas

The government plans to harness solar and wind power sources to pump water into waterless communities nationwide, Malacañang said yesterday.

The shift from the traditional fuel source of energy to solar and wind technology may require higher capital investments but could mitigate the effects of climate change and global warming, National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) chairman Domingo Panganiban said.

In his keynote speech during the national conference for small water service providers at the Seameo-Innotech in UP Diliman, Quezon City, Panganiban said the goal is to assure some 41,000 communities access to potable water by 2010 using solar and wind power.

Under President Arroyo’s Priority Program on Water (P3W), the development of solar and wind power as energy sources were included to possibly replace other sources, such as electricity, diesel and gasoline in pumping water, he said.

One of the primary hindrances to the sustainability of the small water service providers is the high cost of fuel, he said.

He said the development of other sources of energy could accelerate the pace of water development efforts of the government to ensure that poor communities have potable water.

In keeping with this plan, Panganiban said that in two years’ time, at least 160,000 households in water districts managed by Local Water Utilities Administration would be completed.