Role of

Hydrology in
Water Resources
Planning and
Management in
the Philippines

Prepared by: Group 8

 Agencies Involved in Collection of Hydrologic Data

Water is one if the most important natural resources. Without it, there would be no life
on Earth. Supply may be available, but it is not always in the right place, at the right
time and at the right quality. That’s why hydrologic data is very important.

The ultimate goal of data collection in hydrology, be it in precipitation measurements,

water-level recordings, discharge gaugings, groundwater monitoring and water quality
sampling, is to provide a set of sufficient good quality sampling, is to provide a set of
sufficient good quality data that can be used in decision making in all aspects of water
resources management, in the wide range of operational application as well as in
research.
 PAG-ASA (Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration)
– it is responsible in collecting of hydrologic data, and these data will used for weather and
flood forecasting and various research project of the agency.
 NIA (National Irrigation Administration) – it is responsible in gathering and reporting water
discharge data.
 NPC (National Power Corporation) – primarily responsible of stream flow data.
 NAMRIA (National Mapping and Resource Information Authority) - responsible for
providing the public with map making services and acting as the central mapping agency,
depository and distribution facility of natural resources data in the form of maps, charts, texts,
and statistics.
 NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) – the agency receives the funds
for the data collection telemetry equipment shall be responsible for its acquisition, installation,
operation and maintenance.
 NWRB (National Water Resources Board) – responsible for ensuring the optimum
exploitation, utilization, development, conservation and providing methods and standards for
data collection, project investigation formulation, planning design and feasibility evaluation,
and rules and regulations for the exploitation and optimum utilization of water resources.
Problems of Watershed Management and Watershed
Protection.
A watershed is simply the geographic area through which water flows across the land and drains into a
common body of water, whether a stream, river, lake, or ocean. The watershed boundary will more or less
follow the highest ridgeline around the stream channels and meet at the bottom or lowest point of the land
where water flows out of the watershed, the mouth of the waterway.

Much of the water comes from rainfall and stormwater runoff. The quality and quantity of stormwater
is affected by all the alterations to the land--mining, agriculture, roadways, urban development, and the
activities of people within a watershed. Watersheds are usually separated from other watersheds by
naturally elevated areas.

Watersheds are important because the surface water features and stormwater runoff within a watershed
ultimately drain to other bodies of water. It is essential to consider these downstream impacts when
developing and implementing water quality protection and restoration actions. Everything upstream ends
up downstream. We need to remember that we all live downstream and that our everyday activities can
affect downstream waters.
 Watershed management is a term used to describe the process of implementing land use practices
and water management practices to protect and improve the quality of the water and other natural
resources within a watershed by managing the use of those land and water resources in a comprehensive
manner. It involves judicious use of natural resource with the active participation of institutions,
organizations, people participation in harmony with the ecosystem.

Management of the environment has been primarily focused on specific issues such as air, land,
and water. Most efforts have resulted in decreasing pollutant emissions to air and water, improved
landfills, remediation of waste sites and contaminated groundwater, protection of rare and endangered
species, design of best management practices to control water and contaminant run.

Types of Watershed
 Macro watershed (>50,000 Hectare)
 Sub-watershed (10,000 to 50,000 Hectare)
 Milli-watershed (1000 to 10,000 Hectare)
 Micro watershed (100 to 1000 Hectare)
 Mini watershed (1-100 Hectare)
 Laguna Watershed
La Mesa Watershed

Ipo Watershed Dipunga Watershed Gabaldon Watershed

 Top 5 largest Watershed Forest Reserves in the Philippines

Lake Lanao (180,460 hectares) Allah River(92,450 hectares)

Pantabangan Carranglan (84,500 hectares) Libungan River(52,820 hectares) Agno River Basin (39,304 hectares)
Three main components in Watershed Management

 Land Management
Land characteristics like terrain, slope, formation, depth, texture, moisture, infiltration rate and soil capability are the major
determinants of land management activities in a watershed. The broad category of land management interventions can be as
follows;
Structural Measures:
Structural measure includes interventions like contour bunds, stone bunds, earthen bunds, graded bunds, compartmental bunds,
contour terrace walls, contour trenches, bench terracing, broad based terraces, centripetal terraces, field bunds, channel walls,
Vegetative Measures:
Vegetative measures include vegetative cover, plant cover, mulching, vegetative hedges, grass land management, vetiver fencing,
agro-forestry, etc.
Production Measures:
The production measures include interventions aimed at increasing the productivity of land like mixed cropping, strip cropping,
cover cropping, crop rotations, cultivation of shrubs and herbs, contour cultivation conservation tillage, land leveling, use of
improved verity of seeds, horticulture, etc.
Protection Measures:
Protective measures like landslide control, gully plugging, runoff collection, etc can also be adopted. Adoption of all the
interventions mentioned above should be done strictly in accordance with the characteristics of the land taken for management
 Water Management
Water characteristics like inflows (precipitation, surface water inflow, ground water inflow) water use
(evaporation, evapotranspiration, irrigation, drinking water) outflows (surface water outflow, ground water
out flow) storage (surface storage, ground water storage, root zone storage) are the principal factors to be
taken care of in sustainable water management. The broad interventions for water management are listed
below;
• Rain Water Harvesting
• Ground Water Recharge
• Maintenance of Water Balance
• Preventing Water Pollution
Rainwater harvesting forms the major component of water management. The rainwater collected can be
recharged into the ground. Roof top water harvesting, diversion of perennial springs and streams in to storage
structures, farm ponds etc are the methods widely used for rainwater harvesting. Some simple and cost
effective rainwater harvesting structures are the following;
 Percolation pits/tanks
 Recharge trenches/rain pits
 Recharge wells
 Ferro cement tanks
 Farm ponds
 V ditch
 Bench terracing
Economic use of water and avoidance of affluence in use of water at individual and community levels may be
the major concern for water management in the years to come.
Biomass Management
Major intervention areas for biomass management are indicated below;
• Eco-preservation
• Biomass Regeneration
• Forest Management & Conservation
• Plant Protection & Social Forestry
• Increased Productivity of Animals
 Problems of watershed management
 Fragmentation of water agencies (more than 30 agencies).
 Lack of science based-data and information for effective planning and decision
making.
 Depletion of water availability and quality.
 Rapid urbanization and industrialization.
 Indiscriminate land use and development.
 Increasing volume of solid wastes, pollutants and hazardous wastes.
 Unabated extraction of groundwater.
 Inadequate sewerage and sanitation facilities.
 Watershed degradation.
 Inadequate water infrastructure facilities.