Watershed management plans for Eastern Visayas

TACLOBAN CITY – The Department of Environment and Natural Resources regional office has prepared five Integrated Watershed Management Plans for Eastern Visayas.

DENR Eastern Visayas Regional Director Leonardo Sibbaluca said the integrated management plans prepared by his office cover the Palo and Buac watersheds in Leyte Island and the Gandara, Linal-an and Catarman watersheds in Samar Island.

Sibbaluca said the plans were based on the concept of sustainable management wherein the development, protection and conservation programs were carried out by local government units, DENR, other government agencies, and stakeholders.

The plans were affirmed and endorsed by the participating constituents including SB members, barangay captains, civic groups, and other institutions, he added.

Sibbaluca said the Palo watershed covers 22,565 hectares and encompasses 48 barangays in the municipalities of Palo, Sta. Fe, Alang-alang, Jaro and Pastrana, and Tacloban.

The Buac watershed, with an area of 5,933 hectares, covers the towns of Sogod and Libagon, both in Southern Leyte and Mahaplag in Leyte, he said.

The Linal-an watershed in Canabong, Borongan, Eastern Samar, has an area of 5,931 hectares, and the Gandara, Samar, watershed 4,682 hectares.

The Catarman watershed in the towns of Catarman, Mondragon and Lope de Vega has 62,277 hectares, Sibbaluca said.

A watershed contains a common set of streams and rivers and where all of the water that falls in it all drains and flows into a single larger body of water, such as a river, a lake or an ocean.

Proper watershed management is necessary to maintain water quality. The water that falls, drains and runs on the soil surface of the watershed picks up pollutants and deposits them in streams and rivers or larger bodies of water.