Saturday, February 10, 2007
City beaches now safe for bathing
By Nelson C. Bagaforo
DAVAO CITY -- All 12 beaches in Davao City are now safe for bathing after they passed the water quality standards for coastal waters used for recreational purposes.
Dr. Paulyn Jean Rosell-Ubial, regional health director and chair of the Regional Inter-Agency Committee on Environment Health (Riaceh), said Friday the finding was based on the results of analysis of water samples from these beaches conducted by the regional office of the Environment Management Bureau.
Riaceh has been tasked to monitor beach resorts in the city, such as Mergrande Ocean Beach Resort, Seagull Beach Resort, Bago Beach Resort, Kalayaan Beach Resort, Bonguyan Beach Resort, Liberty Beach Resort, Marina Azul 1, Coaco Beach Resort, Guino-o Beach Resort, Felis Beach Resort, Agdao Beach Resort, and Bunawan Beach Resort.
The beaches -- excluding Mergrande, Seagull, and Bago -- were identified as unsafe for bathing after they failed water quality standard tests conducted last year.
But Ubial said a recent analysis of water samples showed that the beaches have remarkably improved.
"The water quality of Davao City's beach resorts improved significantly in the fourth quarter of 2006 as compared to the previous three quarters of the same year and the fourth quarter of 2005," Ubial said.
The improvement, she said, can be attributed to relentless efforts exerted by the City Government and other groups to clean the coastal waters.
She said all the samples analyzed showed results lower than the standard of 1000/100 ml total coliform and 200MPN/100 ml fecal coliform.
In April last year, Sun.Star Davao cited a World Bank report saying that five beaches in the city had already been found to be posing health risks to swimmers in a test conducted as early as 1992.
This, after the City Government's attention was called by the Riaceh regarding the worsening state of the beach waters.
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, it underlined the alarming state of beach waters in Davao City because of the absence of a proper sewerage system.
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 1, Coaco, 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, on the other hand, was okay, but Coaco was approaching critical threshold.
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.
Tests show coliform counts that "are likely to be in the safe range, even at the mouth of the river after it has traversed all the unsewered population clusters" in the uplands.
"By implication, contamination of Times Beach is due to drainage from Poblacion and Matina, not to the upstream contamination of the Davao River," the report said. (Sun.Star Davao/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Zamboanga. (February 10, 2007 issue)
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