MANILA, Philippines — Citing a warning of the World Health Organization (WHO) on the precarious water situation in the country, a neophyte lawmaker sought a congressional investigation to look into the degenerating state of water sources and perennial water shortage problem and determine legislative measures to address the issues.

Kasangga Rep. Teodorico T. Haresco asked the House committees on natural resources, public works and the government enterprises and privatization to inquire into the utilization, conservation and management of the country’s water resources.

Haresco said legislative remedies should be determined immediately to address the worsening water supply problem that has caused “suffering to the people and incalculable damage to the economy.”

Earlier, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund reported that the country’s water supply coverage has continuously regressed from 95 percent coverage in 1990 to an alarming 85 percent in 2004.

Haresco said that based on the water crisis experienced by the country early this year, there is a strong possibility that the water supply situation has turned to the worse.

At present, the Philippines now ranks among the lowest in terms of freshwater availability per capita. In recent months, the country suffered from perhaps the severest water supply shortage in its history.

Haresco also cited the findings of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) that the country’s water problem is due, among others, to a weak and fragmented institutional and regulatory framework. The ADB said this is due to the partition of regulatory functions among different entities that makes enforcement of rules and unification and execution of plans difficult.

In filing the resolution, the parytlist lawmaker noted that the Philippines is endowed with abundant bodies of fresh, brackish and marine waters and regular rainfall that more than suffice to supply the needs of our citizens and for national development.

“Yet, despite the abundance of this natural resource, the country has over the years experienced declining supply coverage and perennial shortage in both rural and urban areas,” Haresco said.

He observed that while the National Water Resources Board (NWRB) is designated under the Water Code of the Philippines as chief overseer of water resources management in the country, the NWRB actually shares, if not competes, for its ostensibly all-encompassing mandate with more than 30 other government offices and corporations that all deal with either water supply, irrigation, hydropower, flood control, water management or other water-related concerns in accordance with their respective mandates.