Unenforced

FIRST PERSON

- ALEX MAGNO

At best, it is a futile exercise. At worst, it is a conscious effort at self-deception.

Our environmental agencies have built a cottage industry out of imposing the highest standards for water quality in our rivers. But our rivers have the worst quality water compared to anywhere else. Why this is being done baffles any reasonable mind. Despite insisting on the highest standards, our environmental agencies have neither the technology nor the manpower to see these standards enforced.

The standards exist only on paper. The reality remains that—in the National Capital Region particularly—we have the most polluted waterways in the world.

At the Marikina and Pasig rivers, ammonia levels exceed safe levels several hundreds of times. The San Juan River and Manila Bay exhibit dangerously high phosphate and ammonia levels. The gap between official standards for water quality and actual water conditions resembles the distance between heaven and earth.

The General Effluent Standard (GES) issued by the DENR through Administrative Order No. 2021-19 limits ammonia content in waterways to just 4 mg per liter. In actuality, our rivers have ammonia content of 10 to 20 mg per liter.

The government standard for nitrate content is set at 14 mg per liter. In actuality, the nitrate content of our rivers is 20 to 30 mg per liter.

The country maintains the most stringent limit for phosphate content at 4 mg per liter. Elsewhere in the region, the average phosphate limit is set at 20 mg per liter.