Following a meeting yesterday during the Negros Water Summit pre-summit, Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said he hopes for the formation of a provincial water security road map. The governor said, during the meeting, water demand, supply, sewerage, and watershed management were discussed.
“This is just the pre-summit but, even today, the resource speakers [had] so many ideas,” he said.
Lacson explained, however, such a task would be difficult as the province’s local government units need to come up with a water security road map.
The governor said he is happy that Bacolod City participated since the city has the highest demand when it comes to water supply.
He pointed out, every local government in the province is presently facing a challenge when it comes to water demand with some already looking for sources of water.
Negros Occidental third district Rep. Francisco Benitez, meanwhile, said the meeting aims to inform water stakeholders to “balance only what they need in order for it to become a ‘win-win’ situation for everyone.”
He added, another summit is scheduled for January and the pre-summit was needed in order to design a needs assessment on what the main summit should focus on and how it should be structured in order to be successful./DGB, WDJ