Pasay City West High School

Senior High School

DEMAND AND SUPPLY OF CLEAN
WATER IN THE PHILIPPINES
Jose Florento
Journal for Water Distribution
August 2015
Submitted by : Eric Andrade
Stem 11
Submitted to : Ms. Liezel G. Clemente
Name : Eric Andrade

Section : Stem 11

DEMAND AND SUPPLY OF CLEAN

WATER IN THE PHILIPPINES

INTRODUCTION/SITUATION

According to an article created by Vice News, there are 55 people who die in the
Philippines everyday because of the lack of clean water. As one can see clean water is
greatly needed by all people. As a student who is lucky to be given all the necessities
needed in life it would be normal not to think of this because we normally do not notice
it. However, we need to. According to Katrina Arianne Ebora, who works for UNICEF’s
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene program in the Philippines stated that “Over 30 million
people in the Philippines do not have access to improved sanitation facilities.” Also,
according to the PIS by 2050 the population of the areas with poverty in Manila will
reach over 9 million! With the rising population of the Philippines there will be a problem
with the economy of clean water because there will be too much demand for the supply
of water. To explain the effects of the water shortage around the Philippines we must
look at its causes, understand its demand and supply as well as the elasticity of clean
water. What is A Shortage? Before we talk about the different effects of the water
shortage in the Philippine economy. We must first define what a shortage means. As I
have learned in class, a shortage is when there is an excess demand for the quantity
supplied. For example, if there are 10 pieces of ice cream and there are 20 students
who want it, then there will be only 10 students whose demands are met while the
others will not be able to be given anything. In economic terms: Qd (quantity demanded)
> Qs (quantity supplied) These two will be talked about later into the blog. What are the
causes of the Shortage? Decreasing amount of places to gather clean water: Aside
from the known factors that cause the decreasing amount of clean water such as El
Nino and climate change, there is another factor that is not really talked about.
According to an article from philstar.com which stated facts about the decreasing water
supply in the Philippines. An example of this was that out of 127 freshwater bodies only
47% had good water quality. Also, in the article it stated that 50 out of 421 rivers in the
Philippines are considered dead and this number continues to rise every few years. The
way that this affects the suppliers for fresh water is that they are running out of places to
get resources from. This in turn decreases the supply that they can provide for the
infinite demand of the people. The reason why the amount of bodies of water with good
quality water which can be used for sanitary or drinking purposes is pollution. Nowadays
that the economy of the Philippines is booming and all the different infrastructures being
built and more companies are increasing their supply it affects the water because of
how they dump the trash. Some companies are said to have thrown their waste directly
into the bodies of water. Due to this, the government loses more than $1.3 billion dollars
a year since it includes various expenses like tourism losses (worse ecosystem) and
healthcare. The problem with this is that despite the water being low quality or dirty
those who cannot afford high quality water still buy it because the price of clean water
goes higher as the supply of it goes down. The Demand For Clean Water It is
understood that everyone in the world needs water to survive. Due to this there is an
infinite demand for water since it is a necessity and we cannot live long without it. As I
learned in class, quantity demanded is the amount of good that consumers are able to
and wanting to purchase. We also learned that there is a Law of Demand which states
“Ceteris paribus, holding other things equal, when the Price of a product rises the
quantity demanded goes down, and if the price goes down the quantity demanded
increases”. There are many different factors which can affect the demand of water
however, in this case of a shortage the factor is the price. Since there is a shortage a
supplier needs to sell the product (clean water) for a higher price in order to supply
more for the demand. However, since there is an increase in price the amount of
consumers that can pay for clean water goes down. In order to see this clearly we can
draw a graph for this: As can be seen in the graph the amount of people that can or are
willing to buy clean water lessens. The problem with this is that people who cannot
afford or who are forced to buy less will not be able to use clean water and that they will
be forced to use poor quality water. As can be seen from the example from above in the
introduction it can lead to death. Supply For Clean Water: The suppliers for water will
have a harder time to find new places to find good quality and clean water for its
consumers. This is because the amount of clean and good quality bodies of water
isbodies of water is slowly decreasing. In class we learned that the quantity supplied is
the amount of good that sellers are willing and able to sell. This may change because of
different factors, the effect of these factors may cause a shift in the supply curve. The
factor that applies to this situation is resource costs. The resource costs of supplying
clean water increases because companies will need to spend more into finding a new
supply or cleaning a polluted supply of clean water, thus, this will hinder the suppliers an
opportunity to sell more. The graph of the supply curve of clean water will look similar to
this: Since the suppliers are not able to meet the amount demanded buy the consumers
there is a shortage. The prices of clean water will need to rise so that the suppliers can
be able to use the money to provide and satisfy the quantity demanded of the
consumers in order to reach a new market equilibrium (where quantity demanded

Conclusion
After looking at the effect of the shortage of water on the economy and understanding
its elasticity. We can use this to see the importance of clean water in our society. I hope
that this was able to motivate people to see that clean water does not have an infinite
supply and it can in the future run out. We must learn to save water and help those who
do not have access from it
Bibliography :

Articles: Jones, S. (2015, March 28). A Lack of Clean Water and Sanitation in the Philippines Kills 55 People Every Day. Retrieved
August 24, 2015, from https://news.vice.com/article/a-lack-of-clean-water-and-sanitation-in-the-philippines-kills-55-people-every-day
Brotoisworo, P. (n.d.). Manila's Current Water Situation and Impending Water Crisis. Retrieved March 8, 2015, from
http://www.academia.edu/6919209/Manilas_Current_Water_Situation_and_Impending_Water_Crisis Velez, F. (2014, September 3).
Water shortage feared in Central Luzon, Manila Read more at http://www.mb.com.ph/water-shortage-feared-in-central-luzon-
manila/#lvXLZuSlh4KSWhWl.99. Retrieved August 23, 2015, from http://www.mb.com.ph/water-shortage-feared-in-central-luzon-
manila/ De Leon, P. (2015, March 15). Water shortage looms with onset of dry spell. Retrieved August 23, 2015, from
http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2015/03/12/El-Nino-water-shortage.html