AS part of efforts to rehabilitate the Pasig River, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission (PRRC) will organize a group of people to take charge of cleaning the river.

Environment Secretary Lito Atienza, also chairman of the PRRC, said environmental aides will take charge of collecting garbage and solid waste along the 112-kilometer stretch of navigable estuaries of the river, including creeks and esteros.

Aside from providing job opportunities for unemployed Filipinos, Atienza said hiring environmental aides would help restore the pristine condition of the Pasig River, which is also significant in reviving two other important bodies of water, the Laguna Lake and the Manila Bay .

Environmental aides will also be in charge of enforcing environmental regulations by reporting violators dumping garbage in estuaries and creeks, and conduct regular monitoring and patrolling to prevent informal settlers in putting up shanties along the creeks and estuaries.

“Organizing environmental aides that would clean the esteros and creeks is in compliance with the Supreme Court decision last December to rehabilitate Manila Bay, which obligates us at the DENR to take the necessary move,” Atienza said.

The 27-km Pasig River connects Laguna Lake and Manila Bay by passing through the cities of Taguig, Pasig , Makati , Mandaluyong and Manila and the municipality of Taytay, Rizal.

The Pasig River has four major tributaries- Marikina , Pateros-Taguig, Napindan and San Juan, and 43 minor tributaries that are mostly located in the city of Manila.

DENR data showed 65 percent of pollution in the river comes from domestic or household waste, 30 percent from industrial waste and 5 percent from solid waste.

Atienza said a major cause of the deterioration of the Pasig River, Laguna Lake and Manila Bay is the fact that these three bodies of water now serve as a virtual septic tank for the metropolis.