The country has been using water more efficiently but consumed more fresh water resources in 2022.
A study released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said the country’s overall water use efficiency (WUE) increased by 5.5 percent last year to P211.04 per cubic meter (cu. m.) of water used from 2021’s P200.09 per cu. m.
WUE represents the value added per volume of water used in cu. m.
In a report released yesterday, the agency said the services sector accounts for the highest WUE at P1,300.73 per cu. m. followed by the industry sector’s WUE of P426.85 per cu. m. and the agriculture sector’s P15.49 per cu. m.
The report added last year, households’ expenses on water amounted to P59.37 billion, followed by mining and quarrying, manufacturing and construction, P47.12 billion and other industries, composed mainly of services, P38.32 billion.
The PSA report said total freshwater withdrawals in 2022, increased to 91 billion cubic meters (bcm) from 2021’s 89 bcm.
The report added the level of water stress or the freshwater withdrawal as a proportion of available freshwater resources increased to 27.8 percent in 2022 from 27.2 percent in 2021 but remains to be within the the low-level classification range of 25 to 50 percent.
Total water abstraction or the amount of water that is removed from its source either permanently or temporarily, increased by 2.1 percent to 226 bcm in 2022 from 221.3 bcm in 2022.
