ENVIRONMENT Secretary Angelo Reyes yesterday said the
27-kilometer Pasig River is no longer ecologically dead and its water quality is
now viable for fishing.
"Pasig is now a clean and alive river with a Class C water
quality," Reyes said in a report submitted to President Arroyo.
Reyes said the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) concentration
has been reduced from 21.31 in 2003 to 16.03 in 2006 due to his department’s
efforts to implement the Clean Water Act and stop companies from dumping garbage
into sewerage systems that eventually lead to the Pasig River.
He said the river’s coliform content has also been reduced as
the dumping of garbage has been controlled through efficient waste collection by
local government units.
He said that as of last year, the Pasig River Rehabilitation
Council (PRRC) has relocated 6,115 families from the riverbanks.
Reyes said 10 linear parks have been completed and more are
set to be constructed. The linear parks serve as buffer zones to prevent direct
discharge of solid wastes into the river.
Some of the linear parks are in Muelle del Banco Nacional,
Intramuros and Sta. Mesa in Manila, and others are in Mandaluyong.
The PRRC said while water quality sometimes fluctuates to
Class D, which can only be used for irrigation, some fish can be seen along the
Napindan Channel and the Manila Bay.
Reyes said ferry service along the river was revived last
week. He said two ferry boats are already finished and undergoing sea trials,
while two more boats are expected to be available by March.
He said these ferry boats are expected to ease traffic in
Metro Manila and also encourage tourism in the metropolis and the Laguna de Bay.
Reyes said the Belgian government is interested in a project
to dredge the Pasig River from its current depth of 5.5 meters. He said a water
quality enhancement project is also in the works with aid from the World Bank
and the Asia Development Bank.
He said electronic data billboards will be put up on strategic locations
along the river to monitor the BOD, salinity and coliform levels for public
information and also to alert the authorities about the river’s water quality.
– Reinir Padua
