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About
the area
Area
5 is Western Visayas or Region VI in the political
map of the Philippines. It is bounded on the
north by Romblon island, on the south by the
Sulu Sea, on the east by the Visayan Sea, and
on the west by the island of Palawan.
The
Western Visayas Region has a total land area
of 2,022,311 hectares. The region's topography
consists of lowland areas with mountain ranges
separating the provinces namely, Aklan, Antique,
Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo and Negros Occidental.
Aklan
province is located in the northern part of
Panay Island. The famed resort island of Boracay
is part of Aklan. The town of Kalibo, the site
of the annual Ati-Atihan festival, is the provincial
capital.
Antique province, meanwhile, occupies a stretch
of land about 150 kms at its widest along Panay
Island's western coast.
Capiz, on the other hand, is the second largest
province in Panay Island.
Guimaras is the smallest and newest province
in the region. An island province, it was formerly
a sub-province of Iloilo. Guimaras lies between
Panay Island and Negros Occidental.
lloilo is the largest and most developed province
in Panay Island. The province has one city,
Iloilo City, and it is the provincial capital.
Negros Occidental forms the northwestern half
of the island of Negros, the largest province
in the region. Bacolod City is the seat of the
provincial government and the most important
center of economic activities in the province.
More than half of the region's population are
in Iloilo while the rest is more or less evenly
distributed among the other provinces in mainland
Panay. Guimaras is the least populated.
The
main sources of livelihood are fishing, farming,
livestock and poultry production, mining, fish
processing and logging. At the regional level,
most of the families derive income from wages
and salaries, mainly from non-agricultural work;
only 22% of families are engaged in agricultural
entrepreneural activities. This picture, though,
applies only to Negros Occidental and Iloilo
provinces. In the provinces of Antique, Aklan
and Capiz, more families earn their living from
agrarian production.
Principal
products of the region are rice, fish, livestock
and poultry, cattle, sugar cane, corn, capiz
shells, timber, fruits and vegetables, coconut,
coffee and cotton. Mineral resources include
copper, gold, silver, molybdenum, limestone,
iron, cement, marble, clay and asbestos.
Climate
is generally dry from November to April, and
wet for the rest of the year.
Water
supply development
There
are 89 municipalities in the area served by
water districts, out of the 134 municipalities
falling within LWUA's area of jurisdiction There
are 45 more municipalities open for water district
formation.
Acknowledged
godfather water districts in the region are
Bacolod City WD, Metro Iloilo WD, Metro Roxas
WD and Kalibo WD. Water district associations
formed in the region are Region VI Water Districts
Information Council (R-VI WADIC), General Managers
Association-Panay (GMA-PANWAD), Negros Occidental
General Managers Association (NOGMA) and Antique
Water Districts Officers & Employees Association
(AWDA).
Recipients
of LWUA Loan Assistance Program in the Area
in 2004: Zarraga,
P11.710 million; Tubungan, P9.609 million; Ponteverde,
P1.000 million; Magao, P10.289 million; Metro
Roxas, P198.423 million; Manapla, P12.990 million;
Malay, P11.068 million; Lambunao, P9.468 million;
La Carlota, P2.000 million; Janiuay, P5.506
million; Ilog, P12.162 million; Igbaras, P21.870
million; Estacia, P2.610 million; Bugasong,
P11.411 million; Belison, P16.170 million; and
Banate, P15.018 million.
LWUA
has granted a total of P2.858 billion for Region
VI water supply projects. Water districts have
already availed themselves of P1.264 billion
and are now in various stages of project development.
Service connections in the region totalled 116,357
serving a population of 698,150. Water district
collection efficiency stands at 56%.
Major
problems in the area are:
Water
district viability.
The slump in the national
economy has not spared the water districts in
Western Visayas. Many of the water districts
are fast becoming non-viable and could not sustain
repayment of their loan obligations to LWUA.
Collection efficiency is low. Equity funds for
additional loans intended to extend service
areas could not be raised. Thus, revenues could
not be increased to sustain mounting operating
and maintenance costs.
Scarcity
of water resources.
Most water resources in
Panay are limited in terms of quality and quantity.
Coastal areas are prone to saltwater intrusion.
Water sources have therefore been limited to
shallow wells or dugwells. This is true in Zarraga,
Barotac Nuevo, Dumangas, Banate, Concepcion,
Estancia and Balasan. This is the same reason
why Metro Iloilo Water District tapped as source,
a surface water located 35 km. inland. The denudation
of the watershed areas has contributed to the
deterioration of the quality of surface water.
This has made surface water an expensive alternative
to the water problem in the area. Treating water
from these sources requires an expensIve process.
Water quality.
This problem is very prevalent
in the coastal areas even outside Area 5. The
destruction of the forest cover in the watersheds
has caused the intrusion of saltwater into the
groundwater. This is aggravated by the proliferation
of fishponds and prawn farms in Western Visayas.
The massive pumping of groundwater for the use
of the fishponds and prawn farms has caused
the destruction of the groundwater equilibrium.
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