DENR classifies 35 new potential sources of potable water
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Tue, 09 Apr 2019 05:49:40 +0000
THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has identified 35 new potential sources of potable water in the country.
Republic Act 9275 mandates the DENR to categorize water bodies—whether freshwater or coastal—according to their quality, area, purpose and vulnerability to pollution.
Fresh surface waters, which include lakes, rivers and reservoirs, are classified as “AA,” “A,” “B,” “C,” and “D” while coastal and marine waters are classified as “SA,” “SB,” “SC,” and “SD.”
The 35 potential sources of potable water brings to 824 the bodies of water, which have been classified in a memorandum circular issued by Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, pursuant to Administrative Order 2016-08 or the Water Quality Guidelines and General Effluent Standards of 2016.
Under the circular, nine rivers in Zamboanga Peninsula (Region 9) namely Batu, Binuangan, Buayan, Catituan, Lambuyong, Logpond, Lutiman, Suloan and Sinusayan were classified as Class “B” and “C”.
Class “B” refers to recreational water intended for primary contact recreation such as bathing and swimming, while Class “C” pertains to fishery water for propagation and growth of fish and other aquatic resources.
In Mimaropa (Region 4B), classified either as Class “C” or “SC”, which refers to fishery water for propagation intended for commercial and sustenance fishing, were Sabang River in Sabayan, Occidental Mindoro, and Bangon, Gabawan and Bongoy rivers in Romblon.
Mimaropa is composed of Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan.
Portions of Guimaras and Iloilo straits in Western Visayas (Region 6) were declared as Class “SB” or fishery water suitable for commercial propagation of shellfish and intended as spawning areas for milkfish and similar species.
Meanwhile, Masbate Bay and Mobo Bay in Bicol (Region 5) were classified as Class “SC” and “SB,” respectively.
In Caraga (Region 8), Mamkas River in Agusan del Norte was categorized as Class “A” or one intended as water supply source requiring conventional treatments like coagulation, sedimentation, filtration and disinfection. Also classified as Class “A” were Muleta and Aloran rivers in northern Mindanao (Region 10) and Alibunan River in Iloilo.
Bicol’s Camgat-Surong and Dinauyan rivers were classified as Class “C” and “B”, respectively. Both the Balaong and Madlum rivers in Central Luzon (Region 3) were categorized as Class “B” or recreational water intended for primary contact recreation.
Portions of Muleta and Aloran rivers in Region 10 were classified either as “A”, “B”, and “C”. Lobo and Pamintahan-Tubig ng Bayan-Sala rivers in Batangas were classified as Class “B” and “C”, respectively.
Bojo River, the lone water body classified in Cebu (Region 7), was categorized as “Class B.”
In Davao (Region 11), the Mayo River and Mayo Bay were classified as “B” and “SB,” respectively. Three rivers in Soccsksargen (Region 12) namely Glan, Malapatan and SapuMasla were classified as “B”, “C”, and “C,” respectively.
Cimatu said the classification helped the government, particularly the water managers and planners, to develop proper water quality management programs and provide the standards to protect aquatic life and human use of their specific water bodies.
“With these classifications, we are able to determine the programs and activities to implement so that we can optimize the use of our water resources and make them beneficial to our welfare and health,” Cimatu said in a statement on Tuesday. EIREENE JAIREE GOMEZ
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