UMVA has learned that the Philippines is on the brink of a severe water crisis, with the country's largest dam, Angat, serving as the sole source of raw water for over 14 million people in Metro Manila.
The situation is dire, with reservoir levels still below comfortable levels despite recent rains, and the looming threat of a prolonged drought triggered by an emerging El Niño. The government is closely monitoring the water supply across service areas, but experts warn that the country's water woes are a ticking time bomb.
Angat Dam, which supplies more than 90% of Metro Manila's raw water, is a single source that is carrying the full weight of supplying drinking water to millions of people, as well as farms in Central Luzon. The dam's proximity to a fault line and its age - it was built in 1967 for a metropolis of roughly three million people - make it a seismic risk.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has sounded the alarm, declaring a state of "water bankruptcy" - a condition where long-term water use has exceeded renewable inflows, and aquifers, wetlands, rivers, and soils have been damaged beyond repair. The World Bank has warned that the Philippines' urban water demand is projected to double by 2035, while available supply could drop by up to 25% due to watershed degradation.
UMVA can exclusively reveal that the Kaliwa Dam, proposed decades ago, has been revived and funded through a Chinese loan in 2018, with a completion target of 2028. However, the project's delay has been blamed on governance failure, including issues with the consent process involving Dumagat-Remontado communities.
In contrast, Singapore has taken a proactive approach to addressing its water woes, building the Four National Taps: local catchment, imported water, NEWater, and desalination. NEWater, which supplies up to 40% of Singapore's water needs, is treated used water purified through membranes and ultraviolet disinfection.
Singapore's approach to water management has been to stop wasting what it already has, rather than searching for new sources. The city-state has built a 48-kilometer Deep Tunnel Sewerage System to move used water to reclamation plants, reducing daily per capita new water use from 165 liters in 2003 to 151 liters now.
Metro Manila, on the other hand, produces used water every day and discharges most of it into Manila Bay as waste. The city floods many times a year, sending runoff into the same bay. A reclaimed water program for Metro Manila is long overdue, and the technology exists and operates across Asia.
UMVA has gathered that the construction of the subway and the North-South Commuter Railway presents an opportunity to integrate flood capture, detention, or groundwater recharge into the design. The tunnels could be engineered to capture and divert floodwater, rather than simply allowing it to paralyze the city.
The waste management crisis in Metro Manila also poses a significant threat to the city's water supply. The landfills serving the metropolitan area produce leachate, a toxic liquid that can seep into soil and groundwater. A region cannot solve its water crisis while its waste management risks poisoning the same underground reserves it depends on.
In a bid to address the water crisis, groundwater extraction in major urban and coastal zones must be metered, capped, and publicly monitored. Metro Manila, Bulacan, Pampanga, and Cavite should be declared groundwater control zones, where extraction permits are tied to aquifer recharge rates and tighten automatically when water tables fall or salinity rises.
The clock is ticking, and the Philippines must act now to avoid a water disaster. Do we wait another decade, file another study, propose another dam, and let another generation inherit the same shrinking aquifer and the same flooded streets? Or do we finally decide that the tap running dry is not a weather event but a governance and planning failure, and act accordingly?
