Let’s convert our rivers into reservoirs

During the rainy and typhoon seasons, rivers all over the country overflow and cause damage to property and crops; cities and towns are flooded, work in government and private offices is suspended, schools are closed, and residents are evacuated to safer areas to keep them from danger. This happens every year.

During the dry season, there is not enough water in the same rivers to sustain normal activities; water from rain is scarce, and rice fields and fishponds dry up, decimating the food supply. This happens every year.

And the government and the people seem powerless to overcome these miseries.

I suggest that we tame the rivers. Let us convert the rivers into reservoirs and build mini-dams, complete with locks and gates. This will keep them from overflowing and destroying everything in its path during the rainy season. During the dry season, the impounded water in the reservoirs and mini-dams can be released in desired quantities to irrigate fields planted to rice and other crops. The same water from the reservoirs and mini-dams can be released into fishponds to sustain fish life. By taming the rivers, we thus keep them from threatening or disrupting people’s lives during the rainy season. During the dry spell, we can thus make the river work for man to sustain food supply!

Where do we get the money to embark on this endeavor? Our government should borrow from the World Bank and other financial institutions which have been established to help countries like ours. It’s a pity that in our country, a succession of administrations frittered away much-needed funds which could have been used for the people’s welfare. It’s never too late, though.

Plans should be drawn up to tame the rivers in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Overflowing can be remedied by constructing spillways emptying into the seas abutting the areas where the reservoirs and mini-dams are located.

—APOLONIO G. RAMOS, 42 Mindanao Street, Marikina City