The Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) and other water providers should help promote the sage advice given by environmentalist urban planner Ma. Lourdes “Joy” Onozawa to property developers during a recent Mega Cebu forum.
Onozawa said property developers should adopt ways to allow rainwater to seep into the ground rather than divert it to sewers, creeks, rivers and seas.
Using these materials and structures, she said, will help prevent soil erosion, flooding and saltwater from mixing with underground water supply which is slowly being depleted due to the combined effects of rising urban population, reduction of forest cover and uprooting of trees that absorb rainwater.
“Most of our areas in Cebu are already infiltrated with salt water and that takes a long time to fix,” the architect said. The same observation is made by MCWD, which called on water providers to coordinate with them in order to ensure the sustainability of the province’s water supply rather than adding pressure to it.
Since going green isn’t just a fad—in fact it’s a necessary lifestyle— it shouldn’t be a burden for property developers to consider these suggestions which aren’t that expensive in the first place.
These include porous cement or asphalt to allow rainwater to seep into the ground; urban planter boxes or rain gardens like bio retention ponds filled with vegetation that help absorb water and are good for parking spaces; and tree trenches that absorb runoff water from surrounding areas that are non-permeable like packed concrete.
By doing this, Onozawa said, Filipino households and developers can help restore the underground water supply, prevent its depletion by saltwater intrusion and allow nature to cool the earth which had lately been drying up due to the prolonged El Niño dry spell.
“These are natural systems that feed and recharge our aquifers. We let nature do everything which is why these methodologies are inexpensive and very easy to do,” Onozawa said.
Her suggestions may not fully solve flooding, but they are not as massive or expensive as a proposed underground storm water tunnel project in N. Baclso Avenue in Cebu City that is supposed to collect rainwater and then pump it out to sea.
That project, which is similar to the underground five-story Burgos Circle water cistern in Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City, was shelved following Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama’s opposition.
But rather than dumping rainwater in the sea, the modified water impounding system being eyed for the Marikina watershed may be more suitable in that it not only retains rainwater but also stores it as a source of potable water for Marikina City and nearby areas.
That may be the better idea; rather than fighting nature, let’s adjust to it and employ measures that will not only stem the floodwaters but store it for our use.