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An Analysis of the Factors Causing the Pollution of Parongking River, Pangasinan
Thesis Abstract:
The study aimed to find out the extent of pollution of Parongking River in Pangasinan, Philippines to determine the interrelationship among the various river system components in relation to resource use and management.
To assess the degree of pollution of the river, physico-chemical parameters such as water depth, transparency, salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), phosphate, ammonia, and biological parameters (i.e., total coliform and fecal coliform counts and macroinvertebrate density and diversity) were used.
The river system components studied were: 1) the communities located along the river, represented by three barangays (villages) (i.e., Bued and San Miguel ofCalasiao and Mangin, Dagupan); 2) the agroindustries, represented by a softdrink bottling company, three bijon (transparent noodle) factories, and the agricultural lands adjacent to the river's upstream portion; and 3) the institutional component, consisting of the Local Government Units (LGUs, namely: city/municipality, provincial, and village), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR, regional and provincial levels), and the Human and Allied Resources· Advocacy for Development through Interaction (HARDIN), an umbrella organization representing 65 nongovernment organizations (NGOs).
Results showed that the river, classified as Class C, no longer serves its intended use as a fishery resource. There are no more fishes in the area, especially in the upstream portion. The BOD determined in the seven sampling stations ranged from 13 to 100 mg/L as against the standard of 7-10 mg/L. Only one out of 14 observations had DO values within the 5 mg/L required minimum. Results of the analysis of the diversity of the benthic community (ranging from 0 to 2.09) showed that the river was moderately to heavily polluted. Organisms found were all pollution indicators.
The aforementioned river system components appear to have contributed to its present state. The communities were not willing to cooperate in any rehabilitation effort of the government. This, coupled with the lack of sanitary services, made the river a convenient dumping area of their garbage and other domestic wastes. Permanent residents were found to have a more positive attitude and perception toward the river, and were generally more aware of the issues regarding its pollution.
Similarly, farmers and the management ofthe industries did not feel responsible for the river's pollution. The LGUs were noted for their lenient impleme ntation of anti-pollution laws because of misplaced priorities, lack of political will, conflict of interests, inadequate knowledge of the anti-pollution laws, and lack of awareness of the proper delineation of environment-related functions of the LGU levels. The DENR, the primary agency tasked to protect and manage the country's natural resources, was found to be ineffective in implementing its functions and enforcing anti-poll ution laws due to various reasons which included, among others, institutional weaknesses such as lack of manpower and financial and logistical support.The interview with the NGO representative revealed that NGOs could be more important partners of the people and the government in the rehabilitation and management of the river.
The study emphasized the need for the holistic approach to the analysis of the pollution problems. It proved that the individual impacts of the various system components and the interaction among them should be studied in order to come up with sound resource rehabilitation, protection, and management programs.