“We, concerned Cebuanos, living under the same serious threat knowing that hardly 40 percent of Metro Cebu’s population is served with potable water system and considering the degraded condition of our watersheds and aquifers, have banded together…to arrest the trend of overstepping the threshold limits of water sustainability,” CUSW members said.

They pointed out that the key to economic and social progress is water.

Formed in January 1995, CUSW comprises national government agencies, local government units and business, academe, women, youth, upland residents, farmers, fisherfolk, landowners, professional, urban poor, nongovernment and people’s organizations.

The alliance has been lobbying for the protection and proper management of legally protected watersheds in central Cebu, as well as other water sources, to ensure sustainable water.

It is also helping the Cebu City Government improve an ordinance on rainwater collection as a way to conserve water resources.

Alingasa noted that many people are still apathetic to problems affecting water sources, which include pollution.

“It seems that all efforts …devoted by CUSW to increase awareness about these situations amount to only ‘a drop in the ocean’”, he said. “We still have a huge and difficult challenge to awaken people from their complacent attitude towards the creeping water crisis.”