As of last week, crop damage due to El Niño in more than 20 provinces was estimated at 3.77 billion pesos (US$82 million). The department of agriculture said farm production losses might reach 10 billion pesos for the entire year.

Dams from Luzon to Mindanao are drying up, forcing power suppliers to resort to outages. The national irrigation administration is rationing water in the two Camarines provinces and Sorsogon to allow rice farmers to plant during the dry spell. The drought is taking its toll also on vegetable, fish and livestock farms. In Ifugao and Isabela provinces, tons of dead tilapia floated in fish pens and ponds in the first incidences of "fish kills". In the metropolis, the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System is cutting the volume of water it draws from Angat Dam by 13 per cent, which means that Metro Manila will have to adjust to that much less tap water.

But El Niño has an upside, too. For instance, Gov. Isidro Zayco of Negros Occidental said that the long dry spell would be a boon to the tourism industry. The dry spell will also be a boon to salt producers and those growing watermelons, among other crops. It will also benefit the construction industry; roads and other infrastructure can be built faster during the dry spell.

But overall, the negative impact of the El Niño dry spell will be tremendous on a country that is just beginning to recover from the effects of last year’s economic downturn and the devastating rains and floods brought by Ondoy, Pepeng and other storms. Now the nation has to conserve water and brace itself for a shortage of agricultural products, including rice and corn; rotating brownouts in some regions; and a shortage of water for household, agricultural and industrial uses.

Water conservation measures will have to be adopted in the greater part of the country. The department of energy will have to meet with key power stakeholders in those regions to address power generation problems. People in Metro Manila will have to prepare for water rationing in case the dry spell goes on for many weeks more.

People are wondering why the country almost always swings between two extremes: during the rainy season it suffers from an excess of water and floods that kill hundreds of people, leave thousands homeless, and destroy billions of pesos worth of crops, public works and private property; and in a dry spell it suffers from a lack of water, food and electricity.

Why can’t something be done to ensure a reasonable amount of water during the dry season, and even in a prolonged dry spell? Why can’t the millions of liters of water that pour during typhoons and heavy rains be stored for future use?

There are at least 36 dams, hydroelectric projects, multipurpose projects and other reservoirs, but apparently these are not enough to take care of the growing nation’s needs. More dams and reservoirs will have to be built. But these will have to be supplemented with smaller water-storage reservoirs which will impound water during periods of higher flow and release it during periods of lower flow.

The additional water reservoirs to be constructed could range in size and complexity from small, single-purpose impoundments to huge and complex multi-purpose facilities. In addition, catchment areas could be built to store rain water that normally flows down esteros, canals, rivers and other waterways and out to the sea.

In some Western countries, small enclosed reservoirs are familiar sights in some towns and cities. Often constructed on hills or supported in steel tanks on towers, these reservoirs are integral parts of most local water distribution systems.