Negros Occidental third district Rep. Francisco Benitez and Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson yesterday opened the Provincial Water Summit at the Negros Residences in Bacolod City. The congressman said the event, which gathered representatives from water  districts across the province, hopes to come up with a roadmap and plans to address water problems.
“Before the problem of the entire province gets worse, we hope to address it,” Benitez said. “It will get worse and complicated if we don’t address them so, hopefully, we can also come up with better resource management.”
He noted, in 2018, 37.2 percent of households in the province had access to a Level 3 water supply, which the Philippine Statistics Authority defines as “a water supply facility with a source, a reservoir, a piped distribution network with adequate treatment facility, and household taps.” They go on to call it “generally suited for densely populated urban areas.”
In addition, the lawmaker said the 17 operational water districts across Negros Occidental reported a 26.81 percent non-revenue water, which the World Bank refers to as “water that is pumped and then lost or unaccounted for.”
“We have to get our acts together to promote water efficiency and conservation – supply of water is not infinite,” Benitez explained.
The legislator also discussed environmental issues such as the extraction of forest resources, converting forests into agricultural land, growth of human settlements, and dangers to various animal species.
His brother, former Negros Occidental third district Rep. Alfredo Benitez, who currently serves as Negros Occidental consultant for investment and economic enterprise, called for a “shared responsibility” in managing water resources.
“As local government units share access to freshwater sources, we all should share the responsibility of protecting this precious resource,” he explained. “We – government authorities, the private sector, and civil society – must come together to institute reforms and investments to build adequate water infrastructure and ensure social and environmental protection.”/DGB, WDJ