AN ENVIRONMENTAL group said Davao City's watershed continues to face threats brought about by rampant quarrying, improper waste disposal, and mono-crop plantation, among others.
Interfacing Development Interventions for Sustainability (Idis) Environmental Research Specialist Lemuel Manalo said during the Davao City Watershed Stakeholders Summit on Friday, November 19, that these threats are posing risk to the city's watershed.
Manalo said the Talomo-Lipadas Watershed in the Districts of Baguio, Talomo, and Toril continue to face threats from the increasing livestock and poultry farms, of which several were found without permits.
He also said that mono-crop plantations continue to overrun the slopes, increasing the risk of pesticide contamination.
He added that other land conversion applications that are prohibited, such as memorial parks and cemeteries, continue to pose a threat in the city’s Water Resources Zones.
Talomo River's coastal ecosystem is also reportedly damaged by infrastructure development, including the diking of easements and the Coastal Road Expressway, the researcher said.
The Panigan-Tamugan Watershed in Baguio District, which is dubbed as the "next source of drinking water" to supply the city in the following years, is also threatened by effluents and discharged from mono-crop plantation, agro-industrial and livestock farms, and residential wastes.
Manalo also said that they are alarmed with the large volume of garbage wastes found along the Panigan-Tamugan.
He also said that certain groups in Sitio Kalatong, Barangay Carmen were alarmed with the continued cutting of trees within Mount Tipolog, still in Panigan-Tamugan, to pave the way for an 11-hectare private rest house villa-type of development.
He added that cutting of trees and selling of lands to non-indigenous people have been rampant since 2018.
"The affected area is within the 'conservation zone' and is considered to be an 'environmentally critical area' based on the Davao City Zoning Ordinance and the Davao City Watershed Code," Manalo said.
In Matina Pangi Watershed, Talomo District, the Idis official said leachate and effluents from New Carmen Sanitary Landfill polluted the river's water quality, emitting foul-smell, very dark color.
This has been subjected to complaints from nearby residents.
Meanwhile, quarrying is a longtime issue in the Davao River Basin in Marilog, Buhangin, and Poblacion Districts.
Manalo said the areas of Barangays Mandug, Dalagdag, Callawa, and Lampianao are the most dredged and extracted without replenishment intervals and threshold assessments.
"These quarry areas have reached Barangay Malamba and Barangay Bantol in the north. Reports of illegal quarrying are rampant at Barangay Waan," he said.
He also said agricultural aerial spraying has also resumed in Barangays Dacudao and Lacson where vast plantations for Cavendish banana export are located.
"The pesticide drift affects waterways and creeks connected to the Davao River," Manalo said.
Quarrying is also a problem in Lasang Watersheds, Paquibato District as operators increased for sand and gravel quarrying at the river in 2019.
In 2020, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio issued a cease and desist order to its operation. But due to the distance and insufficiency in its monitoring, the order was to completely hold the operations and clear our rampant illegal quarrying along the river.
Idis Executive Director Mark Peñalver said it is important to support and acknowledge their efforts in protecting the city’s watershed areas and protecting the environment.
"We are very much aware that we are under global pandemic, and despite that, our forces, partners, Bantay Bukid continue to participate and do their job in terms of environmental protection," Peñalver said.
Meanwhile, the annual Watershed Summit aims to provide a deeper understanding of the importance of improving disaster and climate resiliency in managing and protecting the watershed and continuously implementing initiatives towards sustainable and lasting solutions.