The Department of Tourism (DOT) Cordillera Regional office calls for tourism stakeholders and partners’ cooperation and action to help conserve water with the expected shortage that El Niño would bring.
Responding to the national government’s call for a unified action, DOT is now pushing for “Operation: Water F-All (Water for All), which it launched in the City through a forum on Monday at the BSP Training Center. It was participated by officials from hotels, tourism establishments and representatives from other tourism industry partners and stakeholders.
DOT Cordillera Regional Director Marie Venus Tan emphasized that next to agriculture, tourism is a main factor in water consumption mostly for irrigated gardens, swimming pools, spa and wellness facilities, golf courses, guest rooms and for kitchen use.
She shared that based on a research conducted by the Stockholm International Water Institute, direct water use in tourism is from 80 to 2,000 liters per tourists per day.
Tan disclosed that in response to the call of President Benigno Aquino III for a unified response to the onset of El Niño, DOT is embarking on “Operation: Water F-All”, which is an advocacy to call for cooperation and action of industry stakeholders and tourism partners nationwide.
Primary objective of the advocacy is to establish and implement Water Management Plan where ways to conserve water are identified; staff and personnel are well trained for the plan’s implementation and strategies are set on how to communicate to clients and consumers the water conservation project.
Engr. Noriel Calpito of the Baguio Water District, in the same forum, also highlighted the need for water conservation efforts across all sectors. Aside from the forecasted drought and water shortage that El Niño would bring, there is already a big gap in the water supply and demand in Baguio City.
Currently BWD has 38,515 metered connections in 122 of the 129 barangays in Baguio. The current daily average demand is 60,047 cubic meters and this is way up compared to BWD’s daily average production of 42,598 cubic meters, Calpito said.
According to Capito, there is growing demand for water due to the city’s increasing population and influx of tourists and transients, which is why BWD continues to work to find additional source and doing actions to help for the fast replenishments of water supply in underground water sources and watersheds. Moreover, the BWD advocates water conservation.
Meantime, Danny Galati of PAGASA Baguio iterated the forecast of a mild to heavy El Niño this month up to June of next year. Unless there will be at least two more typhoons that will come before the year ends, water supply shortage will be a reality, which is why there is really a need for water conservation, he said.
Aside from audio video presentations on water conservation, a signing of agreement of cooperation was also conducted during the forum. (JDP/CCD – PIA CAR)
