A total of 153 water bodies in Metro Manila have shown improvement in terms of water quality, owing to the continuing public-private partnership effort under the Adopt-an-Estero Program of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
These water bodies showed improvements in terms of dissolved oxygen and biochemical oxygen-demand levels, says Environment Assistant Secretary and concurrent Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) Director Juan Miguel Cuna.
“Both of these parameters being monitored by the EMB are very essential in maintaining the quality of our waters and sustaining aquatic life,” Cuna added.
Nationwide, there are 346 water bodies “adopted” by the private sector under the program.
The DENR-EMB is stepping up rehabilitation efforts of the country’s major rivers and other water bodies, and has launched in 2011 the Adopt-an-Estero Program, under which the private sector-partners conduct regular cleanup of a particular segment of an estero or a river tributary they adopted.
Activities under the program may include community mobilization, dredging of the creeks, regular cleanup drive, training and seminars, information and education campaigns, and livelihood programs.
Cuna issued the statement, as hundreds of barangay officials, community leaders, representatives from national and local governments, academe, civil society and private-sector partners gather at the Sulô Riviera Hotel in Quezon City on Tuesday for the 2015 Metro Manila Adopt-an-Estero Partners Forum to share experiences and discuss plans on the rehabilitation of Metro Manila’s waterways.
Since the program was launched, the DENR has been convening partners from all over Metro Manila to continuously engage them in the cleanup and rehabilitation of the adopted estero.
Every September, as part of the National Cleanup Month celebration, all the other EMB Regional Offices are, likewise, convening their respective regional partners’ fora, under the Adopt-an-Estero/Water Body Program.
The forum seeks to assess the multi-stakeholder program of the previous year and to firm up their action plans for the coming year.
Topics for the two-day forum include the Status Report of the Adopted Water Bodies in Metro Manila and, nationally, an overview of the quality of water in our esteros; presentations of promising initiatives from various private sector and local government unit partners; and programs relating to estero rehabilitation by selected national government agencies, such as the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Public Works and Highways, Laguna Lake Development Authority, Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and the Manila Bay Coordinating Office of the DENR.
The Adopt-an-Estero Program is one of the priority programs of the DENR and a key strategy to address the continuing mandamus of the Supreme Court to several government agencies to clean-up Manila Bay and its tributaries.