Rainwater catchment system: Let’s build more
A system to collect rainwater for use in the summer months is a topic regularly discussed by government officials and citizens – especially during the rainy season when floodwaters cover many portions of cities, stop mobility, and cause damages to property, sometimes even death to rescuers.
In June 2023, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. had announced a plan to build “large” water impounding facilities in areas outside of Metro Manila in an effort to control flooding in the country’s metropolis. He said the impounded water could also be used for agricultural purposes. Discussed during the sectoral meeting were plans for the construction and installation of 6,002 rainwater collection systems in various parts of the country under Republic Act 6716 providing for the construction of rainwater collectors, among others.
House Bill 2412 seeking to “mandate the establishment of rainwater harvesting facilities on new public and private commercial, institutional, and residential developments nationwide to reduce flooding and help conserve potable water” was filed in July 2022.
The proposed bill requires property owners or developers of new projects to “reserve, develop, and maintain at least three percent of the project’s total area as a rainwater harvesting facility.”
In August 2023, The Senate Committee on Public Works discussed various bills on the same topic. One of the bills discussed was Senate Bill 990 which “seeks to require project developers, whose project area is more than 100 square meters, to reserve, develop, and maintain the said facility with a minimum storage tank size” according to the building footprint area. It was also proposed that developers of commercial, industrial, and residential projects with “land area of more than 1,000 square meters must submit a Rainwater Management Plan.”
In both discussions, stressed was the importance of rainwater harvesting as one of the effective solutions to address the perennial problem of flooding in different parts of the country, and to save water to augment the supply during the summer months.
Early this week, rainwater harvesting through the rainwater catchment system was discussed by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) as a measure to mitigate the effects of the El Niño which is expected to last until May this year.
MMDA chairman Don Artes said: “We already developed basic designs for the rainwater catchment system that will be distributed to the Metro Manila LGUs in support of the water mitigation measures that they will come up with in their respective cities and municipalities, depending on the needs in their areas,” he said.
Two of the MMDA-designed catchment systems have already been installed in a pocket park in Tripa de Gallina in October last year.
In addition to the rainwater catchment systems, the MMDA resolution has also urged local government units in the National Capital Region (NCR) to regulate the use of water in maintaining golf courses and in operating car washing shops; to recycle wastewater for other uses; and to fix leaking pipes.
The call for conserving and recycling water has been sounded many times by government officials from various agencies. The most recent was made by Defense Secretary Gilberto C. Teodoro Jr. who ordered all military camp commanders, personnel and their dependents living in military camps to do their part in the “whole-of-government approach to mitigate the El Niño effects.”
We look forward to the construction of more rainwater catchment system or rainwater harvesting facility, or whatever name that concept of conserving water for future use will come under in forums. This will be in addition to the catchment systems that some LGUs and farms had built earlier in government facilities and schools. At present, there is a Rainwater Collection System (RWCS) Project which targets public schools as locations.
Families can also plan their own rainwater catchment system. The time to do that is now.