The total freshwater withdrawals in the Philippines increased to 91.0 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2022 from 89.0 bcm in 2021, according to the Water Accounts of the Philippines released by the Philippine Statistics Authority Friday.
It said the level of water stress, or freshwater withdrawal as a proportion of available freshwater resources, also rose to 27.8 percent in 2022 from 27.2 percent in 2021.
The PSA said this remained below the low-level classification range of 25 to 50 percent.
Meanwhile, the total water abstraction, or the amount of water removed from its source either permanently or temporarily, increased by 2.1 percent to 226.0 bcm in 2022 from 221.3 bcm in 2021.
It said the overall water use efficiency (WUE) in 2022 was P211.04 per cubic meter of water used, which increased by 5.5 percent from P200.09 per cubic meter in 2021.
WUE represents the value added per volume of water used (in cubic meter). The services sector accounted for the highest WUE at P1,300.73 per cubic meter, followed by the industry and agriculture sectors with WUE of P426.85 per cubic meter and P15.49 per cubic meter, respectively.
Households’ expenses on water averaged P59.37 billion in 2022. This was followed by the mining and quarrying, manufacturing and construction, amounting to PP 47.12 billion.
Other industries, composed mainly of services, came in third, with water expenses amounting to P38.32 billion.