MANILA, Philippines — A bill that would require all government buildings to have rain-harvesting facilities has been filed in the House of Representatives.

Agham Party-list Rep. Angelo Palmones filed House Bill No. 5494 that mandates all state-owned buildings to incorporate rainwater-storing facilities in their designs.

If enacted into law, “Rain Harvesting Facility of Government Buildings Act of 2011” requires the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to reject designs of public buildings that do not have rain-harvesting and storage facilities.

Local government units (LGUs) shall not issue building permits to government building construction projects that do not incorporate rain-water harvesting and storage facilities, the bill added.

Palmones, author of the bill, said that the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and the World Health Organization (WHO) did a study that indicated that about 1.1 billion people do not have clean drinking water.

He said around 2.6 billion people lack adequate sanitation which resulted in the death of 1.8 million from diarrheal diseases.

“The inadequate supply of water also has great effects on food security because expected water withdrawals for irrigation which represent 66 percent of all withdrawals and aquatic ecosystems and their dependent species are at risk of extinction,” Palmones said.

In filing the bill, Palmones urged the government to take necessary measures to capture rainwater and save off potential water in implementation of state policy to provide adequate supply of clean water.

The neophyte lawmaker argued that a water crisis is a matter of having too much or too little in the country. “During the rainy season when typhoons come there is too much water and it often results in flooding while during the summer months there is too little of it or none at all resulting in droughts,” he said.

“Climate change is upon us and there is no escaping its impacts and one of its impacts is the changing weather patterns. Typhoons bring more rains as never before as exemplified by typhoons Pedring and Quiel that caused flooding in a wide swath of area in Regions 1, 2, 3 and in Metro Manila,” Palmones said.

Palmones said the changing weather patterns with respect to rain emphasize the importance of managing water.

Under the bill, approved building designs without incorporating the rain water harvesting and storage facilities in the design shall be penalized with a P200,000 fine or imprisonment of six months or both.