‘Conserve water, make houses water-efficient’

With the onset of summer, it’s too late to harvest rainfall for the dry months ahead.

But it’s still important to conserve water and make houses and other infrastructure water-efficient.

This doesn’t have to be  costly, said  green architect Joy Martinez Onozawa, during  last week’s Water Challenge Forum.

“Green technology is not really expensive. Green architecture is always misunderstood as expensive but it’s not,” said Onozawa, a certified Green Professional and Environment Planner.

She said one can start by going easy on  using concrete in parking lots  and pavements.

These surfaces can use pebbles or gravel instead so that water can seep into the ground, which  helps address urban flooding and replenishes groundwater reservoirs.

“Right now we use culverts and drainage to flush out our rainwater to the sea. That’s why our groundwater is not replenished. Look at our (road) center island, instead of elevating it, why don’t we make it concave, and plant something there so that the water goes down to the ground,” Onozawa said.

More storage facilities or cisterns of water are needed said Regional Executive Director Isabelo Montejo of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)-Central Visayas.

“Despite abundant water resources, there is a water crisis even in Cebu City. We have plenty of water from rainfall except that we are not able to collect it,” Montejo said.

Engr. Fe Walag of the University of San Carlos Water Resources Center said Central Cebu has a lot of water with an available 1.3 billion cubic meters per year if rainfall is considered.

“We have a  deficit because we rely mainly on groundwater and we let surface water go. We have a problem with building  dams. What we need is  social support  to come up with an impounding area,” Walag said.

TIPS TO SAVE WATER by Archt. Joy Martinez Onozawa

* Reuse water from shower for flushing toilets or irrigate plants

* Innovate. For those living near the beach, use seawater to flush toilets. Consider using waterless toilets

*Dig a pond to have a “rain  garden” that stores rainwater or functions as a wastewater treatment

* Ask a plumber to adjust pipes so that water used after a shower is funneled to irrigate gardens

* Government can give incentives to golf courses that maintain man-made lakes since this helps recharge the aquifer or underground storage of groundwater

*Don’t cover sinkholes. These are recharge areas for groundwater

* Use gravel or pebbles instead of complete concrete so that pavements are permeable