Whereas Clauses. WHEREAS,

Article XIV, Section 8 of the New Constitution of the Philippines provides, inter alia, that all waters of the Philippines belong to the State;

WHEREAS,

existing water legislations are piece-meal and inadequate to cope with increasing scarcity of water and changing patterns of water use;

WHEREAS,

there is a need for a Water Code based on rational concepts of integrated and multipurpose management of water resources and sufficiently flexible to adequately meet future developments;

WHEREAS,

water is vital to national development and it has become increasingly necessary for government to intervene actively in improving the management of water resources;