Bill requires new government buildings to have rain-harvest facilities

MANILA, Philippines - A party-list lawmaker has filed a bill requiring all new government buildings to have rain-harvesting facilities as effects of climate change include abnormal amount of rainfall.

House Bill 5494 authored by Agham party-list Rep. Angelo Palmones mandates all new government buildings to incorporate in their designs rainwater-harvesting and storage facilities.

He said the measure seeks to prescribe such rainwater harvesting and storage facilities to be constructed in all old government buildings, too.

Citing a report of the United Nations Children’s Fund and the World Health Organization, Palmones said the study indicated that 1.1 billion people live without clean drinking water while 2.6 billion people lack adequate sanitation, which resulted in the death of 1.8 million from diarrheal diseases.

“The inadequate supply of water also has great effects on food security because expected water withdrawals for irrigation which represent 66 percent of all withdrawals and aquatic ecosystems and their dependent species are at risk of extinction,” Palmones said.

He said water crises are a matter of having too much or too little in the country, adding that “during the rainy season when typhoons come there is too much water and it often results in flooding while during the summer months there is too little of it or none at all resulting in droughts.”

In filing the bill, Palmones cited the policy of the State to provide adequate supply of clean and unpolluted water for domestic purposes and for sanitation to reduce health risks.

The State shall take necessary measures to capture rainwater and stave off potential water crises, he said.

“Climate change is upon us and there is no escaping its impacts and one of its impacts is the changing weather patterns. Typhoons bring more rains as never before as exemplified by typhoons ‘Pedring’ and ‘Quiel’ that caused flooding in a wide swath of area in Regions 1, 2, 3 and in Metro Manila,” he said.

Palmones said these changing weather patterns with respect to rain emphasize the importance of managing water.

One way of doing this is to harvest rain for various uses such as but not limited to flushing toilets and gardening purposes.

“It is not only a way of adapting to climate change but also a way of reducing costs in maintaining buildings,” he said.

Under the measure to be known as the Rain Harvesting Facility of Government Buildings Act of 2011, the Department of Public Works and Highways is mandated to disapprove designs of public buildings that do not contain rain-harvesting and storage facilities and to ensure that these are included in the actual construction of the buildings.

Local government units shall not issue permits to government building construction projects that do not incorporate rainwater-harvesting and storage facilities.

Under the bill, approved building designs without incorporating the rainwater-harvesting and storage facilities in the design shall be penalized with a P200,000 fine or imprisonment of six months or both.

Also, the non-construction of rain-harvesting and storage facilities that are actually incorporated in the design of the building shall incur the same penalty.

Further, the signatory who issued the building permit for the construction of government buildings found to have not incorporated the rain-harvesting and storage facilities shall be punished with a P200,000 fine or imprisonment of six months or both.