DENR to establish Bacuit Bay as ‘water quality management area’
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has set a goal to make the coastal areas of Bacuit Bay, previously flagged for coliform pollution, as suitable anew for swimming and other recreational activities. The six-month rehabilitation of El Nido is targeting to bring back in May this year the safe water quality in some portions of Bacuit Bay as a “water quality management area.” A press statement released Saturday by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in the MIMAROPA region, said that along with the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) and the El Nido local government unit (LGU), the target is to gain back the Class SB water quality in the bay. Under DENR’s Water Usage and Classification, Class SB refers to coastal and marine waters being suitable for Recreational Water Class 1 or areas that can be frequented by the public for bathing, swimming, and skin diving. The environment department said they are aiming to achieve this by May by establishing Bacuit Bay as a Water Quality Management Area (WQMA) under the provisions of Republic Act 9275 or the Clean Water Act of 2004. WQMA is an “integrated water quality management system to protect and save bodies of water through collaborative efforts of the government and various stakeholders.” In the statement, DENR Assistant Secretary for Field Operations-Southern Luzon Reynulfo Juan said “water quality management is one of the priorities of DENR Sec. Roy Cimatu, and the establishment of the Bacuit Bay WQMA adheres to the major thrusts of his administration.” “We look forward to having a sustained and collective action towards saving Bacuit Bay and the rest of our natural resources here in El Nido,” Juan was quoted to have said on January 29 during the 1st Environmental Forum for the proposed WQMA in El Nido. The forum was organized by the EMB-MIMAROPA Region to orient stakeholders on the stages of establishing a water quality management area. Its holding is important in the creation of a board that would craft and implement the 10-year action plan to address water quality issues in El Nido. The members of the board shall be composed of representatives of pertinent national government agencies, local government units, water utility, and business sectors. “We can say that this is progress made in line with El Nido’s six month rehabilitation period, which would end in May. Masaya ako na nandito tayo para makibahagi sa paglilinis ng Bacuit Bay. Tayo ang kalikasan dito sa El Nido (I am happy that we are here to be part of the Bacuit Bay clean-up. We are the environment here in El Nido),” Mayor Nieves Rosento said during her opening message in the forum.
round participants mostly commercial establishment owners and business operators, as well as representatives of per tinent government agencies, at tended the forum to save acuit ay
7he press statement further Tuoted (1 0,0 2P re gional e ecutive director enry dornado in saying the attendees who showed up only proves that they are ready to take part in the protection and conservation of their environment
7he number of attendees shows that we are ready to take part in the protection and conser vation of our environment , hope this forum would serve as our guide in performing our respective roles in protecting acuit ay and preventing it from turning into an other oracay,” dornado stated
6imilar to oracay, the (1 statement said acuit ay also re ceives numerous tourists from all over the world annually because of its maMestic beaches and island getaways surrounded by crystal line waters
Unfortunately, the inflow of tourists and human activities con tributed to the degradation of the environment, specifically the wa ter Tuality in acuit ay, it said
usiness establishments and household discharges which are untreated wastewaters go directly into the bay resulting in high lev els of total and fecal coliform
ut to date, it stated that 7ask )orce (l 1ido has served notic es to remove structures within easement ones, and notices of violation had also been issued to those that fail to comply with envi ronmental regulations, especially concerning the discharge of un treated wastewater
2n 1ovember , , at the height of rehabilitating tourist destinations in the country follow ing the successful reopening of oracay, 6ecretaries oy Cimatu (1 ), ernadette omulo Puy at 27) and (duardo xo visited (l 1ido for an interagency meet ing and site inspection
ased on the evaluation of the agency heads, (l 1ido was spared from being closed down but was given si months to ad dress problematic areas, such as the water Tuality in acuit ay
Cimatu gave specific instruc tions to restore the bay and even ordered the banning of swimming in areas found to have high coli form levels
:e are mindful of the in structions of 6ecretary Cimatu and we recogni e the urgency to establish : 0 in acuit ay, which we e pect to take place in 1ovember ,” the statement Tuoted further (0 0,0 2P regional director 0ichael rake 0atias
( (/ 7( 1(:6 h t t p s p a l a w a n n e w s c o m pamb enforces carrying capaci ty rules in el nido
7he statement noted that while the figures went down to wards the end of , some areas still fail to meet the water Tuality guidelines of the most probable number 0P1) ml for Class 6 waters based on epartment dministrative 2rder
ased on the water test ing conducted on ecember , , the coliform levels were recorded as follows rgy 0asa gana 0P1 ml rgy 0a ligaya 0P1 ml and rgy uena 6uerte 0P1 ml
7he same water sampling also revealed swollen coli form levels from four outfalls that drain into the bay Ca bugao , 0P1 ml 0asa gana , 0P1 ml, (l 1ido (stero , 0P1 ml and Corong Corong , 0P 1 ml
s such, topics discussed during the environmental forum not only included the phases and boundaries of the proposed acu it ay : 0
( (/ 7( 1(:6 https palawan news com cima tu orders month el nido rehab
:astewater treatment tech nologies, possible financing insti tutions that would help commer cial establishments improve their facilities, and application process in securing (1 permits and other reTuirements discharge permit, permit to operate, ha ard ous generator s , , and designa tion of a pollution control officer), were also tackled to inform stake holders of their role in preventing further degradation of water Tuali ty in acuit ay
7he statement added the (1 is now working with the / U to put up a one stop shop to assist concerned stakeholders in complying with the above men tioned reTuirements
)ollowing the instructions of 6ec Cimatu to dedicate a large portion of the (1 presence in Palawan to focus on the efforts of 7ask )orce (l 1ido, the agency is also working on building an addi tional office and a bacteriological laboratory where the (0 can im mediately perform necessary wa ter tests without having to fly back to 0anila every now and then
7here is still so much to be done, but we are banking on the same unified efforts, we manifest ed in the early undertakings of 7ask )orce (l 1ido :e are con fident that as we meet our ultima tum in 0ay , we can present to the public an improved water Tuality in acuit ay that is safe and fit for bathing and swimming,” dornado said