Licking a water problem Lack of potable water and contaminated river and water systems are to blame for many water-borne diseases in the country
By Dong de los Reyes, Contributing Editor
Water pressure dropped. That allowed sewerage to seep into a squirm of lines plopped atop an estero. The lines led to and sucked off a main pipe, the water supply source, pilfered and free. It was a sneeze away from a huddle of hovels and makeshift shelter on the waterway's bank. Contamination wrought havoc in less than a week that summer of 2004; children of those squalid quarters were struck down with diarrhea and a smorgasbord of water-borne diseases. There were no fatalities though-but free water didn't come cheap. Indeed, Metro Manila is often cited along with Jakarta and Nairobi as cities in which slum dwellers cough up five to 10 times more for water than consumers living in London or New York. Most times, the payment is exacted in lives lost: water-borne diseases are the second leading cause of death among Filipino children below five years old and also among the top 10 killers of children in the five-to-nine-year bracket. Global reports cite that at any given time, nearly half the population of the developing world suffers from waterborne diseases spawned by lack of safe water supply and inadequate sanitation services. The toll in human lives is greater than war, terrorism, and so-called weapons of mass destruction combined. Of the four billion cases of diarrhea every year, two million pay with their lives-90 percent of these victims are children under five. In the Philippines, 12 million people lack safe water supply while 21 million lack adequate sanitation services. As of 2000, 92 percent of urban households have access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation; only 80 percent of rural populations have safe water supply and 71 percent have adequate sanitation, reports a 2006 study commissioned by the Asian Development Bank. Several years before 2000 saw several outbreaks of water-borne diseases, peaking in 1999 in which nearly a million cases were reported. Of the 478 child deaths reported in a 10-year study done in Cebu,15 percent stemmed from diarrhea and digestive disorders-most of the victims came from poor families. Between 1994 and 2000, 31 percent of illnesses in the Philippines were traced to water-related diseases-gastroenteritis, diarrhea, typhoid, cholera, dysentery, and hepatitis. By 2000, the Department of Health (DOH) reported more than 500,000 morbidity and 4,000 mortality cases from water-related diseases. DOH records reveal death toll from diarrhea reached 726,310 in 2002. Irony: The ADB report notes that every dollar spent for the provision of safe water supply racks up US$8 in costs or productivity. On the other hand, human-development costs of inadequate safe drinking water and poor sanitation include: o 1.8 million child deaths yearly due to diarrhea, o loss of 443 million school days per year due to water-related illnesses, o millions of women spending several hours a day collecting water, and o life cycles of disadvantages affecting millions of people with illnesses and missed educational opportunities. In this neck of the woods, livelihood losses caused by contaminated or polluted water added up to PhP67 billion in 2004-PhP3 billion for health expenses, PhP17 billion for lost fisheries production, and PhP47 billion for lost tourism revenues. Often hardest hit are the poor with the limited access to safe water and who cough up more money for less clean water-the cost of connecting to the utility eats up about three months' income for the poorest 20 percent households. Diarrhea and kindred gastrointestinal malaise can be easily remedied and prevented. The cure to curb dehydration in children victims isn't costly-a zinc tablet, which has turned up as mainstay in diarrhea management, costs a peso each. A diarrhea patient usually needs around 10 tablets, still cheaper than antidiarrhea drops and syrups that fetch around PhP100 a bottle. Also, diarrhea prevention is cheaper-all it takes is hand washing with soap and water prior to meals, food handling, and after using the toilet. The habit can reduce diarrhea and pneumonia by between 30 and 50 percent. While nearly all Filipinos wash their hands before eating, surveys found that only 26 percent of households regularly wash their hands before handling and preparing food. And less than 50 percent regularly wash their hands after going to the toilet. Access to basic sanitation in the country rose from 57 percent in 1990 to 72 percent by 2004-but there are still some 25 million Filipinos living in high-risk households without sanitary toilets. Such lack more than likely stacks up risks that spawn diarrhea and waterborne diseases. Notes the Global Water Foundation: "The majority of the health burden from water pollution, poor sanitation and hygiene is due to contact with human waste, a single gram of which can contain 10 million viruses, one million bacteria, and one million parasite cysts." Once human waste enters the body via contaminated fingers, food or water, the bacteria, parasites, and viruses can grow, touching off diarrhea-the most common among bacterial infections causing nearly 90 percent of cases of water-borne diseases-or dysentery, cholera, hepatitis A, and typhoid. A 2007 World Bank report pinpoints the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, Central Visayas, and Cordillera Administrative Region as having the highest reported incidence of diseases stemming from contaminated water, sanitation, and hygiene-"incidence rates are three to five times higher than regions with lowest incidence rates." While diarrhea incidence has tapered to 43 percent in the last 10 years, the report points to Guimaras and Antique in Region VII as high-incidence areas for diarrhea, turning up 2,660 and 2,332 cases respectively for every 100,000 reported each year. The report notes that only seven cities in the country have piped sewer systems. Even Metro Manila has a niggardly 15 percent of the population connected to the sewerage system resulting in 192,000 tons of household wastes flowing into drains or canals-and eventually into waterways, rivers, and other bodies of water-or seeping into the groundwater each year. By World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) standards, a person requires 20 to 50 liters of water for daily consumption to meet his drinking and basic personal hygiene needs, including bathing and laundry needs. In most European countries, a person uses up about 200 to 300 liters a day while United States residents use 575 liters a day. In contrast, average water use per person in Mozambique is less than 10 liters a day, while a Bangladeshi or a Kenyan lives with 40 liters. Threats to wellness from water-borne diseases aside, Metro Manila and some parts of Luzon have to cope with perennial water crises. The National Water Resources Board cites that raw-water supply from dams has been reduced due to shortage of freshwater from rivers, lakes, and watersheds. Deforestation, river pollution, degradation of watersheds, and the El Niño phenomenon have also contributed to the problem of water shortage in the country. To head off water woes, the government is planning to invest US$1.4 billion-in a 10-year rehabilitation and improvement program-to improve water supply, transmission, treatment, distribution, and storage in Angat Dam. Similarly, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources' Environment Management Bureau has identified health-risk, contaminated river systems in 10 geographic areas of the country, among them in Metro Manila, North Manila Bay areas, Laguna Lake's western parts, Dagupan City in Pangasinan, San Fernando City in Pampanga, Cebu City, Iloilo City, Zamboanga City, and Butuan, Agusan del Sur. For a country hemmed in on all sides by water, Filipinos may find themselves echoing an ancient mariner ruing: "Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink." |
