Taiyo Yuden Philippines Inc., a Mactan Export Processing Zone (MEPZ) locator, saved at least P80,000 in utility bills after it started collecting rainwater to augment their water supply needs.
Socorro Atega of the Cebu Uniting for Sustainable Water (CUSW) used Taiyo Yuden as an example to show how businesses and households can benefit from simply harvesting rainwater.
Water cisterns are common fixtures in industrial facilities not because they are useful to collect rainwater, said Atega in a forum yesterday.
She said it was sad that they were put up only to comply with building permit application requirements.
Cisterns, Atega said, should be encouraged especially in residential areas and government-owned structures to address Metro Cebu’s growing water supply problem.
Requirement
Atega said while there are laws that require buildings to have water cisterns, the requirement is not strictly followed.
Engineer Fe Walag of the Water Resources Center of the University of San Carlos agreed, citing Cebu City Hall’s legislative building as an example of a public building that lacks a water cistern.
“Is it a matter of communication or a matter of finances?” asked Jan Dictus, International Expert of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (Unido).
In her presentation, Atega said Metro Cebu remains dependent on pumping groundwater.
“For most countries, ground water is reserved. Surface water is the usual main source,” she said.
Atega said MCWD takes about 81 percent of its supply from ground water sources while the remaining 19 percent is from surface water sources. The production of the water district’s 89 water wells reach 116,400 cubic meters. Because of overextraction, saltwater intrusion in the city has already reached about 4 kilometers inland, up to the vicinity of the Cebu Provincial Capitol.
Atega said rainwater harvesting is a way to help counter ground water depletion in the city.
During the open forum, Dictus asked if it’s a concern that Cebuanos don’t use water cisterns.
Atega said there are some who put up cisterns for compliance only.
“Nobody is monitoring compliance not realizing its benefits,” she added.
Walag said that most of those who comply with the water cistern requirement are foreign-owned companies like NEC in Lapu Lapu City and NPC in Naga City. NEC uses its rainwater harvest for flushing and washing.
“The knowledge should be popularized… This really matters because this reduces the cost of operation,” she said.
Peer review
Experts from the UN Industrial Development Organzation (Unido) are in Cebu City for a four-day “peer review support visit” to look into the city’s governance, water, waste management and transportation.
Dictus said Cebu City is already the fourth Southeast Asian city which they visited for the program called the “Promotion of an Ecological Cities (Eco-Cities) Network in South East Asia” that would allow exchanges of best practices of the participating cities Maptaphut, Thailand, Da Nang, Vietnam, Iskandar, Malaysia, Pingtan in China and Cebu.
“The five cities were chosen because of their ambition to become leading eco-cities in the region,” Dictus said.
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