CABANATUAN CITY, Nueva Ecija, April 8, 2011-Engineer Reynaldo Puno, National Irrigation Administration, UPRIIS operations manager yesterday slammed the findings of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) that fecal coliform bacteria has polluted the Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation Systems which supplies irrigation water to the Pantabangan Dam.
“The water at the dam is proven of good quality and is even used as potable water by local residents,” Puno said, adding that the reported presence of coliform at the system is far from accurate, saying they have quarterly tested samples of the water quality of the Upper Pampanga in the towns of Pantabangan and even in Rizal to disprove it.
“The report on coliform contamination as cited by DENR regional forestry division chief Sofio Quintana is grossly unfounded insofar as the UPRIIS is concerned,” he furthered, saying that it is not factual. “That is not true,” he said, explaining that the water quality at the UPRIIS is so good and it is even used by residents in Pantabangan where the dam is located as potable water source.
In a recent water conservation forum, Quintana said that a test conducted last year on water quality of 15 rivers in Central Luzon showed various stages of fecal coliform contamination from human and animal wastes.
Quintana said that the bacteria, which is hazardous to people is found midstream and downstream of rivers from the watersheds of the UPRIIS, Dingalan in Aurora, Angat-Maasim and Angat-Ipo in Bulacan; Porac-Gumain in Pampanga; Pinulot in Bataan; Bulsa Moriones, Camiling and O’Donnel in Tarlac and Bucao, Cabaluan, Caulaman, Nayom and Sto. Tomas in Zambales.
These river systems provide irrigation to thousands of hectares of farmlands in the region, led by Pantabangan Dam which – as the country’s biggest dam – irrigates 102,000 hectares in the region.
Quintana said that local government officials should build community toilets and should strengthen the enforcement of solid waste management laws.
But Puno said several water quality tests conducted by First Gen. Corp., the power generation arm of the Lopez group, at the Aya reservoir in Pantabangan showed zero contents of fecal coliform. He showed a copy of the report which states that generally, water quality is good enough and only need some treatment processes such as chlorination and sedimentation for potable water supply.
“So if the water is not safe as Quintana claims, local residents would have gone sick and farm animals would have perished because they drink water from the river. And even fish species would have died and there would have been a massive fish kill. But none of these exist,” he said, as he belied Quintana’s report.
Manuel Collado, NIA regional irrigation manager for Central Luzon, said that so far, none of the farmers and irrigators’ associations have filed a complaint regarding the coliform pollution reportedly affecting the Angat-Maasim and Angat-Ipo rivers in the region.
“So far, no one has reported damage to crops related to the coliform bacteria,” Collado told newsmen as he downplayed the DENR report.
Angat-Maasim falls under the jurisdiction of Collado’s office which also covers the merged provincial irrigation management offices of Nueva Ecija, Bulacan and Aurora whose office is situated in Barangay Tambubong, san Rafael, Bulacan operates the 39-year-old Angat-Maasim Rivers Irrigation System that runs the Angat after bay Regulator Dam that irrigates 30,000 hectares of farmlands in 16 towns in Bulacan and four towns in Pampanga.
Collado said that the reported coliform pollution is not being felt in their areas of operation. (Jason de Asis)
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