Ermita residents remove trash from river mouth

MEMBERS of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) yesterday helped Barangay Ermita residents clean up the mouth of Guadalupe River to kick off activities related to World Water Week.

The task was herculean: The river traverses densely populated communities in Barangays Guadalupe, Calamba, Pasil and Ermita.

Many establishments discharge wastewater into the river while several houses built toilets that dump directly into the waterway.

Still, the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) 7, a line agency of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, noted that the state of the river delta has improved from last year.

EMB 7 organizes quarterly coastal cleanups with Barangay Ermita and the private sector, through the “Adopt-A-Water Body” program. The mouth of Guadalupe River falls within the 500-meter stretch of coastline adopted by the Cebu Private Power Corp., a subsidiary of AboitizPower.

Partners

The EMB 7 said that it is looking for more partners to clean up waterways, like Guadalupe River. Other clean-up activities were held in other coastal areas in Cebu City yesterday, two days before World Water Day.

EMB 7, in partnership with the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) and Southwestern University, also conducted yesterday a demonstration on the production and use of Bokashi balls, a technology that uses anaerobic bacteria to clean up water bodies.

CCCI president Melanie Ng said that the business community supports enterprise development initiatives that also consider the environment.

The EMB 7 said Bokashi balls production can be an alternative source of livelihood for the community.

Ermita Barangay Captain Felicisimo Rupinta thanked the private sector and EMB 7 for helping efforts to improve the living conditions of residents in his village.

He said that declogging and cleaning the portion of Guadalupe River that passes through Ermita is a priority of his administration. He said that the barangay has declogging teams that conduct daily cleanups of the river.

He said that the responsibility of cleaning Guadalupe River should also be shared with other barangays to see real improvement of the state of the water body.

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