Water czar to submit recommendations to P-Noy

MANILA, Philippines - As the designated water czar, Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson is set to submit his recommendations to President Aquino on how to address water-related problems in the country.

“I will submit (my recommendations) on Wednesday because I am still waiting for comments from other Cabinet secretaries who would be affected” by his recommendation.

Singson said his proposal revolves around the adoption of an Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) program.

There are some 30 government line agencies that are related to water, including the National Water Resources Board (NWRB), National Irrigation Administration (NIA), Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS), Flood Monitoring Center, and the National Power Corp. (Napocor) that are under different departments.

Singson and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) have been tasked to come up with a more coherent and integrated program for water management.

“The approach is Integrated Water Resources Management wherein we are saying that it could no longer be kanya-kanya (each on his own). This would be the major theme of that proposal which the President has actually accepted,” Singson said.

“The remaining issue are the functions of other line agencies that would be affected…It would take quite a lot of doing to integrate all those functions,” he added.

In assessing the situation, Singson explained they would have to look at the river basins, from the upstream all the way to the downstream, and identify which agencies are in charge of what.

“There is the NIA, water districts, flood control and the dams. If there is a dam at the end of that, that would have to be integrated,” he said.

Singson said they would not only look for solutions when there is excess of water, such as flooding or water spilling from dams, but to also find ways on how to optimize the use of water during water shortage such as when the country is experiencing drought.

Singson earlier said one of his assignments as water czar was to review the protocol on releasing water from dams.

“If you recall, we recommended that instead of downstream, we should have a water basin. This would not only cover flood control. We could store water from a higher level or impound water that we could use for irrigation, for domestic use and even a mini- hydro (power plant),” he said.

Singson also cited the need to build smaller dams.

“I would rather have water catchments or smaller dams. The principle here is that we want to reduce the big flows (of water). How do you do that? We would stock (water) in certain locations so the water would not go to waste and reduce the damage caused by floods.”

On Oct. 4, President Aquino appointed Singson to head an inter-agency task force to manage the country’s water resources. Singson once served as president of Maynilad Water Services Inc.

His appointment came following the devastation brought by floods during typhoons “Pedring” and “Quiel.”