Hangyaku no Graycel

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[San Jose Del Monte City Water District (SJDMCWD) will hold the 14^th Oratorical and On-the-Spot Poster Making Contest on October 1, 2008 from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM at Grotto Vista Resort, City of San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan.]

THEME: WATER AND SANITATION FOR  LIFE’S PRESERVATION

Honorable judges, fellow contestants, ladies and gentlemen

Every year, in this same annual contest, we students come together to define water, to be reminded of its role in our survival, to be challenged in using water for peace and for development, and to challenge each other of our role in ensuring that it continues to flow not only for us but for all the generation to come in this planet called Earth, this tiny blue sphere in the universe.

For the past many years, this contest heard students talk about water and the environment, watersheds and reforestation, water conservation and preservation.

Now we veer away from usual topic on environment, although not entirely separate.

We talk about sanitation, which is rather a broad topic, from the very basic concept of washing as a hygienic means of disease prevention to the more complicated engineering solutions for the handling of wastes.

But how is sanitation so related to water that is becomes necessary for life’s preservation, as this year’s theme so suggest?

Or more aptly put, how does inadequate sanitation lead to water scarcity and probably snuff out life from earth?

All of us present here are very lucky. We do not thirst. We merely open our faucet at home and clean, clear water comes gushing out of it. We have water to drink. We have water to wash our laundry, to keep us clean, to water our plants and all other domestic uses. We have water to flush our toilets. Yes, toilets.

Do you know that we take our toilets for granted but in parts of the world, especially in Africa and Asia, millions of people do not have that very basic need? If nature calls while you sit there listening to me, and suppose there is no toilet inside this building, can you imagine yourselves squatting in the middle of the street to relieve yourselves? Worse, can you imagine yourselves without water in the middle of the street while relieving yourselves? But millions of people in poor countries, especially in Africa and Asia, do not merely imagine. They, in fact live with it.

Not only do human waste litter their streets. So does animal waste. So does other domestic garbage.

So what does this situation leave us? It leaves us with pollution, which brings us back to the problem on environmental degradation and leads us to deterioration of water quality.

Accumulated waste both from human beings and animals contaminate rivers and other bodies of water, shirking them of nutrients and rendering them lifeless, reducing the quantity of freshwater sources for human consumption.

But the contamination of water does not stop at water itself. It has ripple effects. Untreated wastewater and excreta could sip into fruits, vegetables, be eaten by shellfish, and thus, enter the food chain. Dirty water also becomes an ideal home for flies and other disease spreading organisms.

And so while it is a recognize fact that we all need water to survive, what we need is clean water, which is only possible if we keep our water sources free from pollution and contamination.

We all start with proper disposal of waste – human waste, animal waste, any domestic waste – and proper treatment of waste. Lack of sanitation consigns nearly 3 billion people to life in almost medieval conditions, without access to latrines and unable to practice such basic hygiene as washing their hands in safe water.

The sad fact is that over one billion people today have no access to safe drinking water and approximately 2.6 billion do not have access to basic sanitation. That is nearly half of the world’s inhabitants.

But the sadder fact is that the poor pay an enormous price in health costs caused by the absence of clean water and adequate sanitation. In 2004, WHO reported that 1.8 million die annually from diarrhea and related diseases. Parasitic infection such as Ascariasis also caused 600,000 deaths, while around six million people went blind from trachoma infection. The grim reality is that everyday 25,000 people on our planet die of preventable water related disease. Nine thousand of them are children under the age of five. That’s happening everyday. That it happens in the 21^st century in a world of unprecedented wealth and advances in science and technology is just…unbelievable.

In the Philippines, the slums in urban areas have the biggest problem in terms of sanitation. Garbage – all kinds of it – are strewn everywhere. Children, and even adults, defecate in any open space available, usually in the open canal or estero. Poverty has prevented most of them to have an individual connection to the water distribution line, denying the with such basic resources for basic personal hygiene. And worse, the sewerage system in most cities and municipalities where slum areas abound is either absent or inefficiently managed; thus, compounding the sanitation problem even more.

We, the youth of today, cannot do anything big. But in our own way, we can do small things – after all, great things start from small things.

We can take the lead by practicing hygiene and sanitation in our own home. Let us properly dispose our own garbage by segregating biodegradable from non–biodegradable waste so that it will not end up polluting our water supply.

Let us join community outreach in slum areas to educate the dwellers about domestic waste management, including human and animal waste. Let us help educate those in the urban slum of the importance of proper disposal of waste. It is a topic that…well…stinks but must be discussed passionately and intelligently especially in the face of today’s rapid increase of population.

Let us push our local governments and our local water districts to join forces in operating an efficient and effective sewerage system that will drastically improve sanitation conditions in many unprivileged parts of the country.

Let us urge our national government to pour financial resources for the development and improvement of the delivery of water and sanitation services in the country so that water related disease will be minimized, if not totally eradicated, especially in slum and rural areas.

But most of all, while we recognize water as the source of life, let us also recognize sanitation as a way of life. Water is life, sanitation is dignity. It is not right for a human being to live and dwell in a garbage-riddled community, inhaling it stinking smell day in and day out. If we have any sense of compassion and social justice, we must not allow this continue. What we must allow to continue is our commitment to the preservation of life by doing all means possible to keep our water, the very source of life, pristine for human consumption.

And as we ensure the continuous availability of safe and potable water, let us also ensure the provision of adequate sanitation services. Only then can life continue to exist and exist with dignity.

Thank you and good afternoon.

►At last, I finally finished memorizing this!*um...actually, I already finished memorizing it  last Tuesday(September 23, 2008) after it was handed to me last Monday(September 22, 2008)...I couldn't believe that I memorized it in a short period of time...and to think that it was 4 pages long..~WOAH*Good luck to me cause...its a contest of all schools...including public and private...I'm so nervous...cause its my first time...

GOOD LUCK TO ME!!