Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Davao City beaches already unsafe since 1992
By Stella A. Estremera and Barbara Carla R. Quiero
DAVAO CITY -- Five of the nine beaches recently identified as unsafe for bathing had already been found to be posing health risks to swimmers in a test conducted in 1992.
The information is contained in the World Bank Environmental Assessment Report on Davao City in relation to a proposed Sewerage and Sanitation Project and Water District Development Project dated March 1997.
The report underlined the alarming state of beach waters in the city because of the absence of a proper sewerage system.
The same report pointed out that the bacterial contamination of Times Beach is not new as this was already confirmed in tests made as early as 1985.
The tests were conducted on the waters of Kalayaan in Daliao, Toril, and three areas of Times between Saavedra and Bonguyan, in front of Liberty Beach, and in front of Marina Azul, Coaco, Villa Victoria (now known as Mergrande) in Dumoy, and Seagull in Punta Dumalag, Matina Aplaya.
At that time, all three areas in Times and the Kalayaan Beach were found to contain bacteria beyond the maximum tolerable limits.
Seagull was approaching the upper limits but was still within tolerable level, Villa Victoria was okay, while Coaco was approaching critical threshold.
In the list of unsafe beaches because of high bacterial count that was read by Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte in his Sunday television program, Kalayaan, Liberty Beach, Marina Azul 1, Bonguyan Beach, and Coaco were among such beaches.
The remaining four are Guinoo Beach Resort in Toril, Felis Beach Resort in Matina Aplaya, Agdao Beach Resort in Agdao, and Bunawan Beach Resort in Bunawan.
The World Bank report noted that the high contamination of Times Beach could not be due to water runoff from the Davao River from its upland forays as tests show coliform counts "are likely to be in the sage range, even at the mouth of the river after it has traversed all the unsewered population clusters" in the uplands.
Poblacion drainage
"By implication, contamination of Times Beach is due to drainage from Poblacion and Matina, not to upstream contamination of the Davao River," the report said.
It continued, "For days with particularly high coliform counts, one can expect to see a heightened incidence of waterborne disease or skin irritation among people swimming at the affected beaches. However, examination of the available clinical health records from the beach areas shows no signs of such outbreaks."
Two possible reasons were cited in the report on why there were no signs of outbreaks.
"There are at least two possible interpretations of this finding. First, the people of Davao may be accustomed to low-level intestinal disease because sewage contamination has made it endemic. If so, people would not regard post-swimming episodes of diarrhea as worth a clinic visit. Secondly, the traditional standards for safe swimming may simply be too conservative, so health damage is minimal."
The concern about the bacterial, coliform, and fecal content of the beach waters in the city took off anew after Duterte read out the list of beach resorts tested to be unsafe for bathing.
The Department of Health Center for Health Development-Davao Region of the Regional Inter-Agency Committee on Environmental Health had written to Duterte calling his attention to the state of the waters in the city.
In the letter, the center noted that of the 15 beaches tested by the EMB both in the city and the Island Garden City of Samal, only six passed the standards and nine failed the test.
Duterte ordered the City Health Office and the City Environment and Natural Resources Office to come up with an action plan to address this concern.
He said an action plan should be drafted by concerned government agencies, outlining several measures to ensure the safety of beach resorts in the city.
"I am waiting for the action plan to be submitted to me by Wednesday by (the environment office) and city health," Duterte said, adding that once approved, the plan would immediately be implemented.
City Administrator Wendel E. Avisado refused to blame owners for the high pathological contamination of the beach resorts in the city, but asked government agencies to look into how these resorts dispose of their garbage.
"The waste can come from the land, not from the sea. On the part of the resort owners, they should check their septic tanks," Avisado said.
Resorts found to be safe for bathing are Mergrande Ocean Beach Resort, Seagull Beach Resort, Paradise Island Beach Resort, Costa Marina Beach Resort, Samal Beach Resort, and Bago Beach Resort. (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)
(April 4, 2006 issue)
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