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Fifty rivers in the Philippines have been destroyed
because people are using them to dump their rubbish, leaving some
ecologically dead, the Environment Secretary said Wednesday.
Of the country’s 421 major
rivers and 20 large river basins, 50 are “highly degraded because
of man’s abuse and neglect,” Environment Secretary Lito Atienza
said in a statement.
“History tells us that rivers
have played an important role in the country’s economic growth.
Yet, we have disregarded this and continue to dirty our rivers and
lakes by turning them into giant septic tanks and trash bins,” he
added.
One of the ecologically dead
rivers is the Pasig which dissects Manila. The government has been
relocating thousands of squatters from its banks, but those who
remain “continue to throw their domestic waste into the river,”
he said.
Atienza said 53 percent of the
pollution in Philippine rivers is from domestic waste.
Given the situation of the
country’s rivers, the Environment secretary said the public should
start conserving water and planting more trees.
“In the face of climate change,
it is important that Filipinos now adopt water conservation as a
way of life,” the environment official said, urging them to plant
trees.
“Trees moderate water flows by
absorbing large amounts of water during heavy rainfall and releasing
them gradually during the dry season.”
Atienza, along with the EcoWaste
Coalition actually sounded the alarm to conserve water on fears of a
looming water shortage during summer.
“There is no other time in our
country when water becomes even more important and very precious
than during the hot summer months,” Atienza said.
Besides pollution, Atienza cited
other reasons for the looming water shortage are over-extraction of
groundwater, dwindling supply of surface water due to neglect of
watersheds, and over-exploitation of forest resources.
He also cited climate change as a
big threat to the world’s water resources and said “Filipinos
should now adopt water conservation as a way of life, and not simply
during the summer months.”
Atienza also urged the public to
continue tree planting, explaining that trees are important in
cleaning the atmosphere, replenishing our water bodies, and in
regulating the climate.
--Ira Karen Apanay with AFP
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