Marcos creates Water Resources Management Office under DENR

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered the creation of the Water Resources Management Office, under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

In Executive No. 22, Marcos said the WRMO shall integrate and harmonize all government efforts and regulatory activities to ensure the availability and sustainable management of the country's water supply.

With the EO, Marcos also ordered that the following agencies be attached to the DENR and work closely with the WRMO "to the extent allowed by their respective mandates."

These are the:

• National Water Resources Board;
• Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (Corporate and Regulatory Offices);
• Local Water Utilities Administration and the network of local water districts; and
• Laguna Lake Development Authority.

Marcos Jr. in March said that the Philippines was experiencing a water crisis.

In his attendance at the 6th Edition of the Water Philippines Conference and Exposition, Marcos specifically cited the need to build dikes and dams as part of flood control measures.

"These are the kinds of stratagems that we have to employ, that we have to bring down to the grassroots level because the water crisis in the Philippines – and I call it a water crisis because it is," Marcos said.

In his EO, Marcos said the WRMO "shall ensure the immediate implementation of the Integrated Water Resources Management in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and formulate a corresponding Water Resources Master Plan."

He also cited the need to address the challenges that affect the management of water resources in the country, specifically the increasing demand for water due to population and economic growth, the effects of climate change and the pandemic, as well as the lack of adequate infrastructure leading to uneven distribution of water resources.

“To avert water crisis, minimize and avoid conflicts, and consistent with the State’s sole ownership and control over the country’s water resources, it is imperative for the Government to integrate and harmonize the policies, programs, and projects of all relevant agencies in the water resource sector in the fulfillment of their complementary governmental mandates,” Marcos said.

“Towards this end, the WRMO shall ensure the immediate implementation of the Integrated Water Resources Management in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and formulate a corresponding Integrated Water Resources Master Plan (IWMP),” he added.

The EO directed the integrated into the IWMP the various plans of agencies, including the Philippine Development Plan, the Philippine Water Supply and Sanitation Master Plan, and the National Water Resources Board Security Master Plan.

The WRMO will be headed by an Undersecretary to be appointed by the President upon the recommendation of the DENR secretary. —NB, GMA Integrated News