Routes
The Iloilo River
Two days ago, a fish kill was again discovered in the Iloilo River. Coincidentally, Victor Prodigo, my co-author in many a technical paper, and Joussan Dolar, a recent co- researcher of ours, are in the US after invitations by the American Academy of Sciences to do presentations of papers from our nine abstracts accepted to the International Conference on Environmental Science and Technology, one abstract among which is entitled: Autonomous Stakeholder Management of the Iloilo River Development Master Plan: Towards a New Paradigm.
I became more familiar with the Iloilo River situation after I took part in the Local Initiatives for Affordable Wastewater Treatment (LINAW) Information, Education and Communications (IEC) Committee supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
It should be made clear that the cause of the Iloilo River pollution is not only solid waste. Another cause is wastewater being discharged into the body of water considered by St. Paul University President Sr. Carol Aggravante as a blessing when she said that not all cities are like Iloilo City, which is blessed with a river that crosses the very heart of it.
Commercial and industrial establishments should practice wastewater treatment. So should the households. They can avail themselves the technology of choice commensurate to their economics. I know that the approachable Iloilo City Environment and Natural Resources Officer (City ENRO) and LINAW Team Leader Engr. Noel Hechanova will be more than willing to share his expertise in this field. He is an industrial engineer and an urban and regional planner of exemplary work ethic.
With the LINAW technology, pollutants that go with wastewater will be eliminated and the commercial, industrial and household pollution of the Iloilo River will be put to a stop. The toll on health, agriculture and tourism will be abated and gradually diminished, and the huge potential for development in these sectors can be smoothly started.
It was from former Iloilo City Public Works Office Supervising Engineer Pablito Mijares whom I first heard that the Iloilo River is not a river but an estuary. It was way back in the 1980s when he was sharing with his kids who were my close friends possible solutions to the problem on informal settlers. The Iloilo River is actually an estuary for it has no headwater source on the mountains.
The Iloilo River is a unique ecosystem. Twenty-seven barangays are direct stakeholders of the Iloilo River. It is host to around forty of the fifty Philippine mangrove species and is a livelihood source for fisher folks . It is also a natural infrastructure for tourism.
The Iloilo River is a rich subject of history. Now it can be made into an object of progress.