Bulacan rivers’ water quality improving

OBANDO, Bulacan , Philippines – The water quality in Bulacan’s river system has improved since the Manila Bay rehabilitation was implemented.

This was the assessment made by representatives of different government agencies led by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) tasked to implement an order of the Supreme Court to rehabilitate Manila Bay.

Paquito Moreno Jr., regional executive director of the DENR-Central Luzon, said there is a need to clean the waterways to protect aquatic life.

Since the launch of the Battle for Manila Bay, a total of 1.6 million kilos of wastes were collected from Central Luzon’s river system.

 A portion of Manila Bay in Mariveles, Bataan has been declared safe for swimming.

Obando Mayor Edwin Santos said the Manila Bay cleanup in Bulacan improved the quality of water in a river in Barangay Tawiran, which was considered as one of the dirtiest rivers in the world.

Santos said before the Manila Bay rehabilitation program was launched, oysters and other fish species in the town’s river system had difficulty growing due to pollution.

A year after the cleanup, aquatic life in Obando’s river system started to improve, residents said

Fishermen said their catches are returning to normal and  enough for their families.

Villagers attributed the improvement of the water quality to people’s awareness on proper waste dumping.