Quality of drinking water in Guimaras monitored
GUIMARAS ISLAND—Health officials here are monitoring the quality of drinking water from wells and other sources after samplings showed above normal levels of lead in five villages on the island.
Provincial health officer Dr. Felicito Lozarita said results of water samplings conducted in April 16 this year showed that lead content in water sources in five barangays in Nueva Valencia and Sibunag towns were above the standard of .01 mg per liter.
Lozarita said in an interview that four villages in Nueva Valencia and one in Sibunag registered higher than normal levels.
These are barangays Algeria in Sibunag (.05 mg/l) and San Antonio (.82 mg/l), Igdarapdap (.011 mg/l), Cabalagnan (.013 mg/l) and Panubulon (.022 mg/l) in Nueva Valencia.
Chronic exposure to high levels of lead is toxic and could lead to serious ailments and death, said Lozarita. But he said the levels are not that significant at present to lead to serious ailments.
Lozarita who last week presented the results of the samplings during the second anniversary of the August 2006 Solar I oil spil said they still could not conclude that the increase in lead levels was a result of the oil spill.
He said they would still correlate the results of the water samplings with blood samples on residents exposed to bunker fuel taken after the oil spill and this year.