This is the third week that we are taking up the subject of water depletion in the City of Naga — not for anything else, but for its being a vital and vitalizing element in our life. Water, it is said, being gibo nin Dios, is life and is for everyone.
Two weeks ago, we exposed the fact that ground water is slowly being depleted in Naga City and that it will be a big problem in 2010, considering the growing population, development and investments in the city whose water demand will by far exceed its groundwater potential. A solution has been offered: to launch the planting of vetiver grass in the upland barangays of Panicuason and Carolina to enhance filtration of water so that the groundwater potential would be increased.
Last week, we featured an analysis of the data from the Metro Naga Water District only to confirm that all the time the fact of groundwater depletion has been recorded in the water static level of 14 MNWD wells, only three of which showed improvement of groundwater level while other wells showed erratic significant increase and decrease at varying periods, its most significant being Well No. 5 whose initial water-level of 6.74 meters in 1993 increased to a depth of 33.23 meters .in 2005. We said MNWD did not do us any service by not telling us that these wells are not generating as much water as they used to because there is no longer enough water to pump.
This week, we turn our attention to the statement lifted from the State of the City Report of Mayor Jesse M. Robredo in 2005 where he pointed out that there were approximately 5,500 industrial and commercial establishments in Naga City (this figure could have increased as of this writing), of which 44% or 2,431 of these establishments are being serviced by MNWD and 17 have well discharge permit from the National Water Resources Board. These figures mean that about 55% of the total or some 3,000 plus business establishments and residential units, especially the small-scale cottage industries are engaging in water withdrawals that have not been monitored. These figures could also mean that there are many who do not want to avail of the MNWD services because they find it cheaper to pump their own wells.
No doubt, there is a need to have an accurate and encompassing record of water withdrawals to be able to come up with a responsive legislation that can adequately address the problem of water depletion in the city.
Already, a proposed resolution has been filed in the Sanggunian Panlungsod urging the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to declare the Mt. Isarog watershed critical so that appropriate legislative measures could be passed. Likewise encouraging is the move to ask the National Water Resources Board to devolve its regulatory powers to the City Government of Naga so that all wafer withdrawals from MNWD wells and from privately owned deep wells could be properly monitored. At least with these measures, though stringent to some because they curtail certain privileges, we will have a more accurate and complete accounting of our groundwater potential. The ordinances and the resolutions that will be passed by the Sanggunian Panlungsod in its desire to address the problem of water depletion in the city shall he more stable, comprehensive and encompassing.
There ought to be laws to address this vital problem. These laws shall see to it that each one of us shall have an equitable share in this vital and vitalizing element in creation. An gibo nin Dios, para sa gabos, bako sa magkapira sanang gatos.
