Second of two parts
THE United Nations declaring that humanity is facing a “water bankruptcy” should get us very worried. But we must not lose hope.
I say this because the Philippines is still blessed with a high level of rainfall, averaging 2,400 mm annually. However, much of the generous rainfall our country receives gets washed out to the seas after mercilessly flooding communities and farmlands, unveiling the massive corruption that plagued flood control projects.
The result is our groundwater resources not getting replenished or recharged. Meanwhile, the country’s water needs are increasing.
In June 2025, a team of researchers headed by Dr. Francis Magbanua of the University of the Philippines Diliman College of Science, Institute of Biology (UPD-CS IB), in collaboration with counterparts from Ilocos Sur, Benguet, Nueva Ecija, Cebu, and Davao del Norte revealed some of their findings on the country’s freshwater resources.
“Groundwater is a limited resource, and its quality is steadily declining,” an article posted over https://science.upd.edu.ph/ said. “Human population growth, economic development, and environmental changes all contribute to the pressure on this vital resource.” Globally, the UN report titled “Global Water Bankruptcy, Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post-Crisis Era” is sounding the alarm on the rapid depletion of groundwater sources, warning the trend could be irreversible.
“Groundwater depletion and land subsidence are widespread and often irreversible. Groundwater now provides about 50 percent of global domestic water use and over 40 percent of irrigation water, tying both drinking water security and food production directly to rapidly depleting aquifers,” the report said.
It added that an estimated 70 percent of the globe’s major aquifers show a declining trend over the long term, which is a result of excessive groundwater extraction. This has contributed to significant land subsidence on over more than 6 million square kilometers, including over 200,000 square kilometers of urban and densely populated zones where almost 2 billion people live. Notably, six million square kilometers comprises almost 5 percent of the globe’s total land area.
The irreversible depletion of groundwater resources is just one factor contributing to water bankruptcy. According to the UN report, the following are happening globally and contributing to water bankruptcy: At least 50 percent of the world’s large lakes have lost water since the early 1990s; loss of roughly 410 million hectares of natural wetland; more than 30 percent of glacier mass has been lost since 1970; and salinization has degraded an estimated 82 million hectares of rainfed cropland and 24 million hectares of irrigated cropland.
Failure of governance systems
Given those findings, the UN report said that current water governance systems cannot address water bankruptcy.
“In many basins, the sum of legal water rights, informal expectations and development promises far exceeds degraded hydrological carrying capacity in the absence of effective governance institutions to address water bankruptcy,” it said.
The UN report added that agendas such as WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene), incremental efficiency gains and generic IWRM (Integrated Water Resources Management) are insufficient.
In the Philippines, among the main issues is around 30 agencies have overlapping mandates on water management and conservation, but there is no entity that sets the overall strategy. Hence, Congress needs to create the Department of Water Management (DWM).
At the local level, the “one size fits all” approach cannot be forcefully shoved down on communities, given the geographical and hydrological diversity nationwide.
But again, I have not lost hope, as the country still has numerous lakes that have not yet been tapped for water consumption, and our annual rainfall remains high, which is evident in the floods they bring during storms.
To address governance issues, the UN report recommends a shift from the paradigm of avoiding a water crisis, to an approach of being brutally honest on the following issues: admitting insolvency or illiquidity where it exists and how to reverse that; and how to share unavoidable losses fairly.
Furthermore, institutions should be redesigned to also facilitate the development of financial frameworks to prevent overspending, and enforce the efficient spending of public funds.
More importantly, the UN report said that “bankruptcy management acknowledges the failure of the current development system and water management model and irreversibility of some damages, while recognizing the urgency of preventing additional damages through transformative reforms.” However, the first step to pushing for transformative reforms is to recognize that water bankruptcy is a reality, and to protect systems that make water production and conservation possible.
“Recognizing water bankruptcy calls for developing legal and governance institutions that can effectively protect not only water but also the hydrological cycle and natural capital that make its production possible,” the UN report said.
The political and justice angle There is also a justice and political angle to the issue of water bankruptcy, with the UN report emphasizing that water bankruptcy management must explicitly be equity-oriented; secures basic human needs and critical services; and improves grievance and conflict resolution mechanisms at the local, national, and transboundary levels.
“Without this justice lens, necessary reforms risk fueling social unrest and undermining the political viability of transitions,” it added.
And let me add that the justice lens should include the issue on how public funds should be spent to address the reality of water bankruptcy. My first recommendation is to invest more on research to preserve our water resources, involving state universities and colleges (SUCs) and getting local government units involved.
The initiative of UPD-CS IB assessing the groundwater resources in select locations is a good example.
From what I have scanned from social media, there is no lack of viable solutions to address water bankruptcy in the Philippines. One good example is the project of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) on the development of artificial groundwater recharge facility that can be upscaled nationwide. This initiative has been ongoing for more than three years and deserves attention.
SM City Baguio also unveiled last October a rainwater collection system that captures, treats, and stores rainwater, producing 150 cubic meters of safe drinking water per day. The system’s capacity can also be increased to 300 cubic meters daily. This rainwater harvesting program can be pursued in a big way in the countryside.
My second recommendation is to create the DMW, and to give that agency the mandate to unify and rationalize all water-related infrastructure projects, including flood control projects, large dams for power generation, and national irrigation systems.
And my final recommendation is to get rid of corruption in the bureaucracy, as this can inflict more harm to the government itself, as citizens affected by floods join the ranks of the disgruntled who have lost faith in the current administration.
This will require the DMW to make transparent to the public how much is spent for every water management and conservation project, and to report promptly their progress accurately.
But what if our government fails to address water bankruptcy? My answer is: That will only show how bankrupt the government is — both morally and financially — in addressing the issue.