Successful rehabilitation

In polluted, overcrowded Metro Manila, good news comes rarely on the environmental front. Last Tuesday saw one of those rare moments, as the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission became the first recipient of the Asia River Prize Award conferred by the International River Foundation. The PRRC bested the Yangtze River rehabilitation effort in China.

The honor, conferred during the 21st International River Symposium in Sydney, Australia, considered the scale of the problem and recognized the response of the PRRC.

Fidel Ramos, whose wife Ming was among the ardent movers of the river cleanup during his presidency, may still not want to swim in the Pasig as he says he used to do in his youth. But those who haven’t taken a close look at the river for some time should try taking the ferry today. They may be pleasantly surprised. Floating solid waste has become a rare sight and water lily is not allowed to proliferate. The water does not stink like a cesspool, and children fish along the banks in certain areas.

It wasn’t just the water cleanup that was recognized. The awards body noted that the PRRC, from 1999 until last year, resettled in decent homes 18,719 families living along the banks of the 27-kilometer river. The PRRC dismantled 376 private structures encroaching on the river, established nearly 37,500 meters of environmental preservation areas and developed 17 of 47 identified Pasig tributaries.

The challenge for the country is sustaining the rehabilitation effort and further improving the state of the river. National hero Jose Rizal wrote about fishing and picnics along the Pasig. Other countries have shown that rivers can be restored if not to a pristine state, then at least to a much cleaner one.

Another challenge is to apply the principles behind the successful rehabilitation effort to other bodies of water in Metro Manila and in other densely populated and polluted urban centers across the country. This is a success story that must be replicated.