Saturday, June 14, 2025

LGUs told: Act vs El Niño, prevent water wastage

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INTERIOR Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. has directed local chief executives (LCEs) to adopt measures that would mitigate the adverse effects of the El Niño phenomenon in their respective areas.

In a statement, DILG said Abalos has issued a memorandum circular urging the LCEs to pass ordinances aimed at curbing illegal connections and encouraging prudent use of water.

Among others, Abalos said water conservation acts should be adopted, such as but not limited to, using brooms instead of water hose when cleaning sidewalks and driveways, fixing leaky faucets, using pail or buckets instead of water hose when cleaning vehicles, using leftover water to water plants, and watering gardens during the coolest part of the day.

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Abalo also said that LCEs should allow water concessionaires and water utilities to conduct emergency leak repairs, lift number coding schemes with respect to water tankers used by water concessionaires to immediately address water supply needs of affected customers, implement and update existing contingency plans related to El Niño, and stockpile food and non-food items for immediate relief assistance, among others.

He likewise encouraged the local executives to conduct massive information, education and communication campaigns on checking and immediate fixing of water leaks, maximizing rainwater harvesting and storage, implementation of water conservation measures, and setting the temperature of air-conditioning units between 22 degrees Celsius to 25 degrees Celcius.

Abalos said such steps can help alleviate the effects of El Niño in terms of agriculture, water resources, marine resources, human health, and environment.

“Conserving water is one of the key actions needed to be taken to mitigate effects of El Niño and as public servants, we must set an example. These precautionary steps, albeit small, can make a big difference that can affect our communities,” said Abalos.

In the memorandum, Abalos listed several water conservation tips, including turning off faucet while brushing teeth and using a glass instead, removing all leftover foods before washing the dishes using a small basin, and reusing the final rinse water to flush toilets.

Meanwhile, during the Laging Handa public briefing, an official of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said they are expecting a weak El Niño.

“Based on our monitoring, it may have similar conditions with the 2003-2004 (El Niño) which is weak,” said Analisa Solis, chief of PAGASA’s climate monitoring and prediction section.

“As of now, there is an 87 percent probability it’s going to be a weak El Niño,” Solis said.

PAGASA has raised an “El Niño Alert” on Tuesday, from El Niño Watch, noting that there are indications the phenomenon “may emerge in the coming season (June-July-August) at 80% probability and may persist until the first quarter of 2024.”

El Niño increases the likelihood of below-normal rainfall which he said may lead to dry spells and droughts in some parts of the country.

Meanwhile, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), like PAGASA, said the El Niño weather pattern is likely to develop later this year and could contribute to rising global temperatures.

The WMO said that after three years of the La Niña weather pattern in the Pacific Ocean, which often lowers global temperatures slightly, there was a 60 percent chance that this will change to El Niño, its warmer counterpart, in May to July this year.

That probability will increase to 70 to 80 percent between July and September, according to the WMO.

Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Wilfran Moufouma Okia, head of the WMO regional climate prediction services division, said there was no current estimate of how much El Niño would push temperatures up.

“El Niño will fuel the temperature globally,” he said. “We feel the effect of El Niño temperatures globally with a slight delay.”

The WMO said it could not predict the strength or duration of El Nino.

The world’s hottest year on record so far was 2016, coinciding with a strong El Niño – although climate change has fueled extreme temperatures even in years without the phenomenon.

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During El Niño, winds blowing west along the equator slow down, and warm water is pushed east, creating warmer surface ocean temperatures.

Solis said they are expecting at least 14 tropical cyclones in the country from May to October.

PAGASA is monitoring a low pressure area which is at the vicinity of Tanjay City in Negros Oriental as of 3 p.m. yesterday. — With Reuters

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