Ramon Alikpala flails his arms wildly. He looks like a man drowning in the very water he is trying to conserve. Every two weeks or so the executive director of the Philippine National Water Resources Board issues a threat against Manila's businesses warning them against waste or the illegal extraction of well water. Asked why he shouts so much, he stops to tell GWR: "I'm only trying to create awareness, because one, nobody knows we exist, and two, people don't know there is a law!" The agency on paper is an all-powerful body that regulates water use across the entire country of over 7,200 islands. It enforces the water code, sets tariffs for water utilities and is just about to take over the Local Water Utility Authorities. The law is the 1976 National Water Code, the Implementing Rules and Regulations of which Alikpala managed to get amended and approved as law in April.
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