Water and Sanitation for Life’s Preservation

Water is life. This is a very important fact that most of the young generations neglect today. We all know it is. Can you think of situations where we can survive without using water? I bet you can’t because water is the basic element, a vital necessity of life. It is our lifeline that baths us and feeds us. We don’t have to be told how important water is to our existence. It is the very essence of life.

As life becomes more complex, water becomes more important than ever before. Everyday, it plays different roles to sustain our needs. We use water as we cook, as we wash our clothes, as we take our baths, as we clean any surface and most significantly as we drink to nourish ourselves.

However, water also has a life of its own- a life which when affected by us, changes its course of action. Nowadays, we are abusing this “life.” It is getting scarce, being contaminated and usually being wasted in not so important entities. It seems that we do not deem water great enough to regard it with care.

In the onslaught of industrial development and rapid population increase, this is exerting greater demand on water resources of the country. With a population of about 90 million and still growing, fast pace urbanization and industrialization reduce quality of Philippine waters. These economic activities decrease the number of bodies of water by the depletion of forests that protects the watersheds. If we have a lot of people it means that more people are consuming water for their food, and other necessities.

Along with clean water, one vital factor to consider in preserving this precious life of ours is proper sanitation. Inadequate sanitation is another serious problem that our country faces today such as lack of toilets among poor residents, scarce water supply, and contaminated ground water sources. Making use of unsanitary open pit toilets in country areas, public toilets that are not maintained or used properly because of lack of water are common practices in the Philippines.

Our country struggles to meet the water supply and to provide adequate sanitation. Children are dying because of water-borne diseases. There are millions of people suffering not because they want to, but because they have no choice about it. We have become hostages of our own actions. As water is important support to life, it is also the easiest carrier of different diseases like cholera, diarrhea, typhoid, hepatitis and the like. Untreated wastewater affects our health by spreading disease-causing bacteria and viruses, making water unfit for drinking and recreational use, threatening biodiversity and deteriorates overall the quality of life.

Some people have gotten used to the thought that water is always there so why brother using it wisely? With all this bone-tickling problems, we must be alarmed as early as now for the reasons that might eventually seize it away from us. We are slowly losing the important thing that helps us to survive. There are no other culprits for this excruciating phenomenon that we all abhor but we humans ourselves. It is pretty obvious and we don’t have to calculate its devastating effects. Studies have been conducted to determine it. The statistics prove it. Have we ever thought of how we could live in this pathetic situation?

To preserve life, clean water is needed. There are still ways to preserve this precious gift from our Creator. We can still make difference. As we are the destroyers of our water, we must also be its nurse. I strongly believe that we can still overcome it. We still have plenty of opportunities to improve this lamentable situation of water and sanitation in our country. We are endowed with natural resources, including water and I strongly believe in our capabilities in looking for ways to solve this.

First of all, government intervention is of great importance. As the most powerful organization in the country, it can make a big difference. Enacting laws in protecting our watersheds, setting standards for good water quality in water systems in the country, providing decent jobs to our people so that our people will have decent homes and as we all know a decent home has adequate sanitation. We can alleviate poverty through better health and sanitation conditions. Provision of facilities to enhance better sanitation should be done. Subsidize on these things if possible. Improving sanitation is known to have significant beneficial impact on health both on households and across communities. Waste management should be strictly imposed. Ambitious as it is but as I see it, it is a must. We need strong political will in implementing all of these in collaboration with different sectors of society.

Along with this is a massive information campaign to our fellow Filipinos. Both young and old must be properly educated about on how we can help in conserving water and in attaining clean environment. We must prepare our people in taking part of this enormous task.

Most importantly, we must put all of these into action. We must do our own part as responsible citizens. We do not have to be our country’s legislators to solve this problem. As ordinary citizens, we still have big roles in achieving a better society. Every person can plant trees so that we can have more trees which contribute a lot to the supply of clean water. We must start applying sanitary measures in our homes. We must be responsible in throwing our wastes in proper places to avoid pollution. Keeping our zone clean can help improve our confidence in doing such good service to our fellow citizens. We should make it a habit to turn off unused taps, moderate our use of water around the house such as shortening shower time and turning off the faucet when brushing your teeth, reuse water that could still be used, and fix leaking faucets. If all of us conserve water in our own simple ways, our little efforts would sum up and would make a large impact concerning the preservation of our water.

Our simple actions affect the whole society. We must know how to conserve for the next generations which are yet to come. We must wake up, do something for all the sustenance water had given, is giving and will be giving to us. Let us help our world conserve this life-giving necessity. After all, water and sanitation lead us to full, healthy, and productive life.