Negros Occidental Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson and Bacolod Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez (l-r) at the Water Forum 2022 at Makati Diamond Residences on Wednesday, August 31.*
Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said with the USAID Safe Water assistance, Negros Occidental will convene its newly created water security council on September 16 to review and approve a provincial integrated water security plan.
Lacson spoke on the financing challenges and opportunities for Negros Occidental’s water security plan at the launch of the 2nd Philippine Water Challenge and Water Forum 2022 at Makati Diamond Residences on Wednesday, August 31.
“The Plan will serve as our roadmap for achieving water security. It should guide municipal Water and Sanitation (WASH) plans, integrated water resource management and coherence of policies for service provision and resource management,” he said.
Lacson was joined by Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, and Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz at the forum.
Lacson, in his speech, said while Negros Occidental is in the process of approving its provincial water security plan “knowing the severity of the problem we have taken affirmative actions in increasing investments, improving capacities of water service providers, planning for long term source development, and protecting and conserving our watersheds”.
Financing is a major challenge, he said, given the equally urgent competing uses for the provincial budget.
“We cannot depend on public resources alone, rather we should set the enabling environment for us to leverage private resources, user fees and household investments, “Lacson said.
On average 3 in 10 people in Negros Occidental do not have access to safe water supply and safely managed sanitation services, he said.
“Water availability per capita for the province is slightly below the normal threshold, however our highly urbanized center, Bacolod City, the hub of our socio-economic activities and services is precariously in absolute scarcity already,” he said.
Lacson pointed out that the province’s watersheds have been affected by massive deforestation.
“If we continue business as usual, we can lose our forest cover in 20 years,” he said.
The financing mobilized is still paltry compared to the investment requirements to meet the target access levels for water supply services, he said.
Looking at the bright side though, we are happy to see emerging opportunities for new sources and more effective mechanisms for funding projects, he said.
A Public Private Partnership arrangement for surface water development for multiple off-takers will be an effective way for packaging lumpy investments, otherwise not affordable for average sizes of our utilities, he said.*