Over 100 brgys dump waste into Iloilo River
ILOILO CITY – The Iloilo River receives untreated waste from no less than 100 of the 180 barangays of Iloilo City, revealed Mayor Jerry Treñas as he announced the holding of a “septage management dialogue” here to save the body of water.
The Iloilo River Development Council will conduct the dialogue today in line with the Iloilo River Week. It will be held at the Metro Iloilo Water District (MIWD) office on Bonifacio Drive.
Treñas, council chairman, said septage management is the immediate solution to improve the poor quality of water of the Iloilo River.
Representatives from various water districts in the region and local government units will also be attending the dialogue.
A University of the Philippines in the Visayas study revealed that the Iloilo River has been experiencing low dissolved oxygen.
Dissolved oxygen is an indicator of a water body’s ability to support aquatic life.
Low dissolved oxygen can lead to fishkill and loss of other aquatic organisms.
“Households and business establishments produce wastewater from toilets…(they are) mainly responsible for the lowering of the dissolved oxygen in the Iloilo River,” Treñas said.
The study also showed a high prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections among children living in urban slums along the river.
Thirty other barangays from the nearby towns of Leganes, Oton and San Miguel, Iloilo also drain their sewerage into the river.
“The problem is alarming, considering that the river, although an estuarine of the Iloilo Strait and an arm of the sea, is now known as the biggest septic tank in Iloilo,” according to City Environment and Natural Resources Officer (CENRO), Engr. Noel Hechanova .
“Not only that. The river is fast dying due to heavy pollution and siltation,” he added.
The Iloilo River Development Council aims to revive the Iloilo River.
Hechanova said exacerbating the condition of the Iloilo River is land use along the 15-kilometer long body of water, and encroachment along its banks.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) have suspended the granting of foreshore lease agreements (FLA) for the river but the problem remains as more informal settlers and riverbank dwellers continue to live along the banks.
Treñas wants all families along the riverbanks relocated to city-owned relocation sites.
The University of the Philippines study also found disease-causing organisms in large quantities of feces and urine present in the wastewater being dumped into the river.
Hechanova said establishments along the river are encouraged to put up their own low-cost water treatment plants.
Some half a million gallons of wastewater drain into the river every day, he lamented.
David Israel Sinay, Panay News
With a report from the Philippine News Agency
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