Government agencies set awareness campaign on water, energy conservation
Credit to Author: Helen Flores| Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0800
MANILA, Philippines — Government agencies will launch a campaign to increase public awareness on water and energy conservation as part of the measures to mitigate the effects of the looming El Niño.
President Marcos gave the directive during his meeting with various agencies at Malacañang yesterday as the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) warned of increasing chances of a dry spell hitting the country in the latter part of the year.
“We are expecting a reduction on our water supply. So, (Marcos) ordered earlier that we should have a public awareness campaign immediately … and should start with government agencies, including public institutions, schools to save water before the problem gets worse,” Office of Civil Defense administrator Undersecretary Ariel Nepomuceno said at a press briefing in Malacañang.
At the same briefing, National Irrigation Administration acting chief Eduardo Guillen said they have formulated short-, medium- and long-term solutions to the impending drought to hit the country in the next months.
“In fact, we have what is called a cropping calendar, where we plan how much we can irrigate. And here, we are prioritizing those areas that are close to the source for rice planting,” Guillen told reporters.
“We will concentrate on hybrid rice because its output is actually two times during the dry season,” he added.
Aside from conserving water, the President also wants the public to conserve electricity, according to Nepomuceno.
PAGASA deputy administrator Esperanza Cayanan, who was also at the Palace briefing, said El Niño could intensify in the last quarter of the year or early next year.
Cayanan added that based on their latest forecast, the probability of the occurrence of El Niño increased to 80 percent this June, July and August. It may increase to about 86 percent in November, December and January.
El Niño brings drier than normal condition.
“By next month, we will be issuing the second level, which is El Niño alert, which means there is above 70 percent of probability of El Niño occurrence in the next two months,” Cayanan said.
The PAGASA official, however, warned of extreme rainfall events before the onset of El Niño.
“For example, during Ondoy in 2009 … before we felt the lack of water, we experienced extreme (rainfall) events,” she said.
PAGASA climatologists forecast this year’s El Niño to be of “weak to moderate” intensity, according to Cayanan.