Save the river, save us

“WATER has no boundaries. It is not constrained by jurisdiction or politics but it is a resource that needs to be managed holistically — from source to sink, from upstream to downstream and from one town to another.”

Very well said by former Dagupan Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr. when he spoke in September 2009 during a consultative meeting among officials, stakeholders and representatives of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources where they discussed the result of the hydrographic survey on the Dagupan-Binmaley-Lingayen River System.

That hydrographic survey, funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, stood as solid, scientific proof of what most of us have long known or at least suspected: that the river system, the hub of the bangus industry in those three areas, is in pretty bad shape.

That study ascertained that if conditions in the river system are not improved, the long term prospects of the aquaculture industry would be dim.

The results and recommendations of that study indicating the pressing need to sort out the river system have been reinforced by the terror that the province suffered from the flooding last year in the aftermath of typhoon “Pepeng”.

So at last, a concerted effort by the provincial government and the local government units of Dagupan City, Lingayen and Binmaley was cast in stone last week and initial activities have actually been carried out.

A memorandum of agreement was signed among the LGUs for the protection of the river and as an initial step towards that goal, dredging work will be undertaken on the abused river.

The short term impact of some operators having to prematurely harvest their stock is negligible within the context of the more important and long-term target of maintaining a sustainable aquaculture industry as well as the objective of saving lives and property from deluge.

A MOA and dredging works would only be the first steps. LGUs, individually and with assistance from one another, must also assert political will and carry out sincere intentions to rid the rivers of illegal fishpens, ensure that no illegal reclamation or backfilling activities take place, initiate campaigns to get the community’s participation in keeping the rivers clean, and undertaking riverbank planting activities to avoid soil erosion.

In saving our rivers, we are saving ourselves.

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