The House Committee on Public Works and Highways chaired by Surigao del Sur 1st District Representative Romeo Momo Sr. approved the proposal seeking to create an inter-agency body that will propose, formulate, draft and direct the implementation of a comprehensive master plan to address the looming water crisis.
House Bill (HB) 6345 also vests the inter-agency body with the power to call on any government body, including private sector agencies, which can contribute to solving the crisis.
The approval was done just before the sine die adjournment of Congress.
The Committee likewise adopted HR 601 and included its contents in HB 6345. HR 601, authored also by Bulacan 3rd District Representative Lorna Silverio, urges the national government to immediately form an inter-agency task force that will plan, draft and formulate a comprehensive Master Plan to meet the imminent water crisis.
Representatives of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Budget and Management (DBM), and Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) endorsed the approval of the bill during the committee hearing last May 31, 2023.
“The country, over the past two decades, has experienced various water shortages that impacted households, communities and the nation.”
Silverio, author of HB 6345, explained that the country, over the past two decades, has experienced various water shortages that impacted households, communities and the nation.
“Given the vital importance of water to everyday lives, leaders of the nation should be alarmed and should act today to avert a devastating water shortage. Even with the La Niña season, when there is supposed to be an abundance of water supply, the nation, particularly the National Capital Region (NCR), experiences water shortages that adversely impact on communities and business operations,” the lady legislator noted.
“The onset of the EI Niño phenomenon has worsened the situation.”
The lawmaker lamented that the onset of the EI Niño phenomenon has worsened the situation, drying up traditional water sources, and limiting their capacity to supply the water needs of a continuously growing metropolis.
“While water rationing is a stop-gap solution, a long-term solution that will assure a sustainable supply of clean, potable water must be put in place urgently,” she concluded.
