THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said Sunday that it has named six more important water bodies across the country as water quality management areas (WQMAs) to better protect them from pollution.
In separate administrative orders signed by outgoing Environment Secretary Ramon Paje, the DENR designated as WQMAs the Naguilan River System in La Union; Cañas-Maalimango Rivers in Cavite; Ayala River in Zamboanga City; Taoloan River Basin in Misamis Oriental; Talomo River in Davao City and Lake Sebu in South Cotabato.
This brings to 31 the total number of WQMAs nationwide, 25 of them were designated under the Aquino administration.
“This is part of our effort to keep the country’s waterways clean and ensure the sustainable water supply for Filipinos,” Paje said.
The Environment chief said the designations would help determine what control measures to institute to effectively achieve water quality objectives and improvements in those areas.
WQMAs require serious protection and management action by the local government and its stakeholders.
All six newly designated WQMAs have a combined area of 221,376 hectares of inland water systems, including land portions surrounding the water bodies.
DENR said four of these water bodies are critical to aquifers and irrigation. These are the Naguilan River System, Talomo River, Ayala River and Lake Sebu.
Meanwhile, the designation of Cañas-Maalimango Rivers as WQMA strengthens government compliance with the Supreme Court mandamus on the cleanup of Manila Bay because the two rivers serve as major transport route of pollutants from establishments within the Cavite area.
The Tagoloan River Basin, on the other hand, serves as a repository of all water that stream through from the watershed areas of Bukidnon and Misamis Oriental provinces.
Under Republic Act No. 9275 or the Philippine Clean Air Act of 2004, the DENR, in coordination with the National Water Resources Board, can designate certain areas as WQMAs using appropriate physiographic units such as watershed, river basins, or water resources regions to effectively enforce its provisions and improve the water quality of water bodies. (SDR/Sunnex)