Water Accounts of the Philippines

The country’s overall water use efficiency (WUE) in 2022 was PhP 211.04 per cubic meter of water used, which increased by 5.5 percent from PhP 200.09 per cubic meter in 2021. WUE represents the value added per volume of water used (in cubic meter). The services sector continued to account for the highest WUE at PhP 1,300.73 per cubic meter, followed by the industry and agriculture sectors with WUE of PhP 426.85 per cubic meter and PhP 15.49 per cubic meter, respectively. (Figure 1 and Table 3)
 

The total freshwater withdrawals increased to 91.0 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2022 from 89.0 bcm in 2021. The level of water stress, or freshwater withdrawal as a proportion of available freshwater resources, increased to 27.8 percent in 2022 from 27.2 percent in 2021. The annual level of water stress consistently fell within the low-level classification range of 25 to 50 percent. (Figure 2 and Table 4)
 

The total water abstraction, or the amount of water that is removed from its source either permanently or temporarily, increased by 2.1 percent to 226.0 bcm in 2022 from 221.3 bcm in 2022. (Figure 3, and Tables 1.1 to 1.13)

In 2022, households’ expenses on water amounted to PhP 59.37 billion. This was followed by the mining and quarrying, manufacturing and construction, amounting to PhP 47.12 billion. Other industries, composed mainly of services, came in third, with water expenses amounting to PhP 38.32 billion.  (Figure 4, and Tables 2.1 to 2.13)
 

The Water Accounts of the Philippines which is compiled annually by the Environment and Natural Resources Accounts Division of the Macroeconomic Accounts Service, provides indicators such as water use efficiency and water stress, as well as water abstraction and water expenses of different sectors. The supply and use of water resources follow the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) 2012 Central Framework, which was adopted as an international statistical standard and is aligned with the System of National Accounts.

DIVINA GRACIA L. DEL PRADO, PhD  
Assistant Secretary  
Deputy National Statistician  
Sectoral Statistics Office