Task force to assess 5 major Iloilo river systems

ILOILO City – A task force has been formed to assess five major river systems in Iloilo province following the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ ( DENR) disclosure t hat excessive sand and gravel quarrying are killing the province’s rivers.

The Rapid River Assessment Task Force will also inspect bridges near these rivers for possible damage.

The five river systems are Jalaur, Sibalom, Suague, Ulian, and Aganan.

In an executive order, Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. also

required the task force to come up with recommendations relative to small- scale sand and gravel quarrying in rivers.

The task force targets to assess one river each week. According t o Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office (PENRO) chief Arthuro Cangrejo, it is expected to do the following:

* identify severely degraded / over-extracted river sections and recommend measures to rehabilitate/restore these areas

* validate public structures severely affected by quarrying activities and recommend measures to prevent further damage

* identify river sections viable for sustainable quarrying activities

The task force is composed PENRO, Mines and Geosciences Bureau and Environmental Management Bureau. It begins working today at Suage River

in the municipality of Janiuay.

“One goal of the task force is to determine if there is a need to increase the buffer zones or no quarry zones public infrastructures.

one sa mga kilometer from the upstream

Ang and downstream layi naton nagahambal quarry- han,” said Cangrejo. Recently, two indi Regional pwede Development Council committees expressed alarmed over what they discovered after inspecting several river quarry sites in the province.

According to National Economic Development Authority regional director Ro- Ann Bacal, the Regional Project Monitoring Committee found that the foundations of the old and new Suage bridges in Janiuayt own have been exposed by the continued erosion of the riverbed due to quarrying, similar to what was happening

to the foundations of the Jalaur bridge in Calinog, also due to the degradation of the riverbed. On the other hand, massive quarrying downstream lowered the riverbed and put the National Irrigation Administration’s diversion dam in Barangay Anonang, Leon at risk of severe damage, the Infrastructure Development Committee discovered.

Quarrying activities were being done within the one- kilometer distance f rom the bridges – something not allowed under Environment department rules – said Bacal. The Regional Project Monitoring Committee also noted that operators engaged in excessive sand and gravel quarrying excavated more than the prescribed one-meter extraction depth, resulting in scoured riverbanks and degraded riverbeds./