Storage, proper utilization of rain water up for study

• Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?nid=8&rid=813421
• Friday, October 9, 2015

(PNA), LAP/PGL/CD

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Oct. 9 (PNA) -- Local legislators here are now studying a proposed ordinance that spells out the proper storage and utilization of rain water as part of the city’s sustainable development policy.

City Councilor Ramon Tabor, chair of the city council committee on laws, said on Friday that the proposed legislation is in response to the pronouncements of the weather bureau that the El Niño phenomenon is expected to worsen in the coming months.

He said the city is fortunate since it is still experiencing rainfall, although weather officials warned that the effects of the El Niño would triple or quadruple from the months of November and December and until the summer months next year.

The proposed ordinance would require the establishment of a Rainwater Catchment system (RCS) in public and private buildings, residential buildings, agricultural plantation and other priority farms, Tabor said.

According to Tabor, the rainwater harvesting system in the city should be classified based on the size and nature of the catchment surface and based on whether the systems are of urban or rural settings.

It provides that the proper harvesting, storage and utilization of rainwater shall be integrated with the proper design, construction and maintenance of drainage systems that would imitate the natural hydrology of the site topography.

Once implemented, the proposed Cagayan de Oro City Rainwater Ordinance of 2015 will also address flooding in the city, he said.