A Win-Win Water Management Approach in the Philippines

Towards A Watershed-Based Water Resources Management

The Myth

• The annual water use accounts for only 12% of available supply in the Philippines

• This figure tends to suggest that the need to manage water use and conserve water resources is not a pressing concern

The Reality

• Declining per capita water availability• The data on aggregate availability indicate only the

average supply per capita per year, without regard to the distribution of available supply

• The Philippine freshwater ecosystem faces severe problems of pollution

• The costs of supplying potable water are rising

Causes of Water Scarcity

• Water availability limitations • Depletion of groundwater resources • Degradation of freshwater sources • The increasing cost of new water source

development

Addressing Water Scarcity Problem

• Managing water supply • Managing water demand • Establishing supportive social, legal, and

institutional support for effective water management system

Key Requirements

• A holistic analysis of the water supply situation• Look at the water issue in an ecosystem setting—

specifically that of a watershed unit • Treat water as an economic good

– Allow markets to allocate water to competing uses, while recognizing the role of the government to protect the interest of targeted social groups in society

• Social, legal, and institutional support systems

Why a Watershed Approach to Water Resources Management?

• Environmental impacts of land-use activities, water uses and other upland disturbances can readily be examined within the watershed context

• The watershed approach has strong economic logic– Many of the externalities involved with alternative land management

practices affecting water supply and quality are internalized when the watershed is managed as a unit

• The watershed provides a framework for analyzing the effects of human interactions with the environment– The environmental impacts within the watershed operate as a feed

back loop for changes in the social system

Failure to Implement a Watershed Approach

• Watershed management has long been an element of natural resources planning and management by the DENR in the country

• However, this approach has been largely limited to the upper watersheds where the forests lie

• The link between the upper watershed and the downstream water resources has not really been tackled in the context of a watershed unit

The main problems in the water governance sector

• The failure to implement the laws governing watershed approach

• The absence of institutional mechanisms to operationalize said approach

• The lack of appreciation of water as an economic good—hence, the inability to allow market-based mechanisms to function

• The lack of mechanisms that will integrate water and watershed plans and programs of various agencies

Multiplicity of Water Agencies

• Weaken efforts to manage the water resources and their ecosystems and watersheds

• Coordination is not easy since these agencies belong to different executive departments

• This is not supportive of a holistic approach to water resources management

Lack of Legal Basis (Prior to the Clean Water Act)• Different agencies with separately vested powers

over water and watershed management • There was no institutional leader that has the

overbearing power and budget to govern water resources management in the country

• Gaps in policies and coordination at the national level constrain the full implementation of the watershed approach in natural resource management

Problems at the Local Level

• Local water districts have no direct jurisdiction over the watersheds supporting their water supply

• The Local Government Code of 1991 stipulates that LGUs should be responsible in protecting watersheds.

• But this Code is also not yet put into full swing—since, control over the country’s natural resources is still taken over by the DENR

Some Initial Steps Towards Cooperation• The DENR has launched several initiatives (e.g.

ECOGOVERNANCE Project, GOLD project) to train LGU in natural resource management – Some watersheds are now managed by LGU under co-management

agreements with the DENR • Certain watersheds are also under the control of a number of

agencies who are dependent on watershed resources such as NAPOCOR and NIA

• The IPRA states that indigenous communities are to be administrators of the country's watersheds within their domains

Elements of a Watershed-Based Water Resource Management

• A biophysical framework—a watershed-based water resource management strategy

• A legal-institutional framework—to provide the legal basis and supporting institutions to implement the proposed water resource management strategy

• An economic framework—led by economic efficiency consideration

• A socio-political framework—defined by the need to have wide support from local communities and political/government units

Watershed-BasedWater Resource

Planning

Economic Efficiency-Dominated Water Policy

Watershed

erga/aug’98

With Legal Mandate and

Sound I nstitutionalSupport

Local Community Support and StrongLGU Commitment

Figure 5. Water Resource Management Strategy

Watershed-Based Water Resources Planning

• The current water policy paradigm in the Philippines is for a river basin water resource planning

• This paradigm is consistent with the watershed approach

• But the river basin as a planning unit is too big to be manageable

• What is needed is to define a watershed unit that a given group of administrative units could manage together in a co-management scheme

Legal and Institutional Framework

• What is needed is an institutional body that will govern the watershed unit—for its water resources and other environmental services

• Since the watershed transcends administrative unit—the need to have watershed council or authority seems to be the move in the right direction to bring about a truly watershed-based water resource planning and implementation

Economic Efficiency and Water Policy

• Allow water to flow where their value in use is highest • Charge water price at full cost and define clearly the

property rights to water use/access • Increase the efficiency of water use by introducing

market-based instruments – Examples of said instruments are water charges, water

markets, and imposing effluent charges– These instruments could play an important role in

stimulating efficient use of water in the country

Local Community Support and Strong Local Government Commitment

• Obtain wide support from the local community vis à vis the local governments and civil societies in water management

• The local communities are the frontline consumers of environmental good and ‘bad’ resulting from water resource rehabilitation or degradation

• It is in their best interest to be directly involved in how this resource is to be managed

• They should be made partners in such an endeavor and must received training to enhance their capacity to perform this role

The Clean Water Act of 2004 • Recognizes the participation of LGUs in the management

and improvement of water quality in their respective jurisdictions

• Provides for citizen action in pursuing suits against violators of the bill’s provisions as well as in the conduct of information and education campaign

• Does not propose for the creation of a new water body; instead, it assigns the lead function to the DENR

• Implementing rules and regulations can be crafted to clearly provide for the implementation of a watershed-based approach

Proposed Policy Statements in the IRR…

• To adopt an integrated, holistic approach in addressing the inherently interrelated issues of water supply planning and operation, demand management, pollution control, and watershed and ground water protection

• To manage water not only as a social good but more importantly as an economic good. As such, water becomes a commodity that is assessed for its scarcity value and whose distribution exists in the context of market processes, even as it is balanced by the view that water is a basic need

…Proposed Policy Statements in the IRR

• To adopt a water-pricing policy that covers the full economic cost of water production and distribution, by taking into account the opportunity cost of water where there are competing users, and the cost of externalities or negative environmental impacts

• To uphold the principles associated with a watershed-based approach by considering the watershed as the basic unit in managing the water resources of the country

Proposed Administrative Mechanisms to Implement the Strategies

• Emphasize that this should be operationalized along watershed boundaries or river basins – There should be support for the institutionalization of local

water bodies such as River-basin or Watershed-based Authorities, following the LLDA model

• The Governing Boards should be supported by a technical secretariat which include an expert in Watershed Management

Proposed Financial Mechanisms…• Use market-based instruments in assessing the true value of

water that would be levied on users, as well as water-related services or damages.

• May include raising water tariffs and imposing sewerage charges and effluent taxes.

• A socialized system for water-use fees can be adopted to balance the market-based value with the social nature of water as a public good.

• Set a threshold value below which water is provided free of charge, then above which water use is progressively valued

…Proposed Financial Mechanisms

• Insure that a big portion of the water use fees should be used for Watershed Rehabilitation and other restorative mechanisms (e.g. reforestation, vegetative and engineering measures to control/minimize erosion and siltation) to enhance the quality of water discharged from natural sources.

• This amount should be clearly itemized, and earmarked in the relevant budget allocation process

Proposed Action at the Local Level

• LGUs (Province, City, Municipality, Barangay) should also be empowered to establish regional/local bodies such as water councils and river basin authorities

• These bodies do not necessarily require national level legislation but may require inter-LGU legislative action, particularly when watersheds cover different municipalities/cities from different provinces

• These bodies may vary in character, charter, or nature. In fact, some of them may even be in the nature of cooperatives or NGO networks, or para-statals

Enabling Role of National Bodies …

• To support this local level action, the job of the DENR should include a function of advocacy and capacity building – To create awareness among local players on the

possibility for such local institution-building programs– To capacitate them not only to build such institutions

but also to be trained in the technical aspects such as the various facets/features of the watershed approach

… Enabling Role of National Bodies

• The DENR should monitor and evaluate these local water bodies

• This should not, however, stop local actors from collectively making action that would induce Congress to strengthen, through legislative recognition, the local structures.

• Examples of this would include the mobilization moves that led to the creation of the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development and the current efforts to enact a law that would create a Davao River Authority.

Thank You!

MARAMING SALAMAT!