Task force formed to check river water quality in city
HAVE toxic heavy metals seeped into Dagupan’s river system?
This is what a Water Quality Monitoring Task Force formed by Mayor Belen Fernandez and headed by City Planning and Development Officer Romeo Rosario seeks to find out.
Meeting at the city hall last July 10, members of the task force agreed that there is a need to monitor the quality of water in Dagupan’s river system particularly because there is a “hydrological connection” existing between the Agno River and the Dagupan where all water from upland passes through before emptying into the Lingayen Gulf.
Agno River is where the San Roque dam releases water while generating electricity.
The task force will set up sampling points from where the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) siphons off water from the Agno River before it releases this to the farms in central Pangasinan.
Rosario said the water collected from the various sampling points will be analyzed by a reputable and competent laboratory in Manila.
Dagupan is known for its distinctly tasty bangus which are grown within the city’s river systems.
In creating the task force, Fernandez citied the collapse of the tailing pond of Philex Mines in Itogon, Benguet last year that spilled tailings into Balog River and to the Upper Agno River.
She said it is possible that these tailings may now have been settled at the bottom of San Roque Dam where all water from upstream of the Agno River end.
The mine tailings contain heavy metals like mercury, lead and cadmium.
PHILEX REPS
Upon learning of the creation of the Task Force, Philex Mines immediately sent representatives to meet with Fernandez and the task force last July 4.
“By all means continue it. But we assure you that your river is not contaminated (by heavy metals),” said Victor Francisco, vice president for environment and community relations of Philex last July 4.
The Task Force has asked Philex Mines to furnish them a copy of the Multi-partite Monitoring Team headed by a Department of Environment and Natural Resources on the Mine Tailings collapse.
In that meeting, Nick Melecio, a member of the task force, showed a map showing a hydrological connection between the Agno River and Dagupan.
He also cited a seven-kilometer gap of the Agno River dike from Barangay San Roque to Barangay San Vicente in San Manuel which spills water from the Agno River down to Asingan, Urdaneta City, Sta. Barbara, Calasiao and finally Dagupan City.
Further, when the water of San Roque dam reaches its critical level, it usually opens its gates, thus sending down the heavy metals deposited to its beds in the lowlands.
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