Manila Bay is facing gargantuan pollution challenges that need to be addressed.
In response, the Department of Science and Technology’s (DOST) agency, the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD) recently launched the “Integrated Mapping, Monitoring, Modelling, and Management Systems and Linked Environments (IM4Manila Bay Program) for the “complete rehabilitation, restoration and conservation” of the Manila Bay using scientific research and development methods.
The two-year (2020-2022) program with a total fund of PP40,616,786.52 from the DOST will be led by Dr. Ariel C. Blanco.
It will be implemented by the University of the Philippines Diliman College of Engineering, through the Training Center for Applied Geodesy and Photogrammetry (UP TCAGP) and the Institute of Civil Engineering (UP ICE).
The DOST-Industrial Technology Development Institute (DOST-ITDI) will manage and monitor the program.
Collaboration to rehabilitate Manila Bay
The IM4ManilaBay Program was conceptualized when the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) asked the DOST how the latter can support the rehabilitation efforts in response to a call for a collaborative effort to rehabilitate Manila Bay, as echoed during the Battle for Manila Bay campaign launched in January 2019, DOST-PCIEERD told the BusinessMirror in an e-mail interview.
Initially, seven projects were conceptualized which were presented to the DENR and the task force with the assistance of PCIEERD, until four were eventually “selected.”
The four projects will provide valuable data and information for monitoring and evaluating whether intervention measures are translating to overall improvement of bay water quality.
Evaluation and utilization of technologies are expected to result in improved management of solid waste and dredge materials. Models and simulations of scenarios can be used for evaluating future impacts of activities (e.g., reclamation) and intervention measures.
The program aims to characterize Manila Bay and its watershed and linked environments to provide information for policy formulation/reviews, rehabilitation/treatment, and management through water quality monitoring and mapping, hydrodynamic and hydrologic modelling, and dredge materials and solid waste management, DOST-PCIEERD said in the project profile.
Rehabilitation is beyond cleanup
Prior to the launching of the campaign, the DENR recorded extremely high fecal coliform levels from different water quality monitoring stations. But most recent data shows that coliform levels have “drastically decreased” just a year after rehab efforts, DOST-PCIEERD said.
Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu reported in January 2020 that fecal coliform count at the Padre Faura outfall is now at 920,000 most probable number per 100 milliliters (mpn/100ml) from last year’s record of 7.21 million mpn/100ml.
From prerehabilitation record of 35 million mpn/100ml at the Raja Soliman/Remedios drainage outfall, coliform level went down to 11 million mpn/100ml.
Fecal coliform levels give a general indication of the water condition in Manila Bay—the higher the count, the higher the water contamination is.
The IM4ManilaBay Program is instrumental and contributory to President Duterte’s Administrative Order 16 Series of 2019, “Expediting the Rehabilitation and Restoration of the Coastal and Marine Ecosystem of the Manila Bay and Creating the Manila Bay Task Force.”
It is also in response to the 2008 Supreme Court Mandamus ordering various government agencies to “clean up, rehabilitate, and preserve Manila Bay, and restore and maintain its waters to SB level to make them fit for swimming, skin-diving, and other forms of contact recreation.”
Based on the mentioned data, however, there is still a long way to go to reach the standard fecal coliform level of 100 mpn/100ml for its supposed Class SB classification.
This shows that the rehabilitation of Manila Bay goes beyond clean up drives and sustainable solutions backed up by scientific data must be established and institutionalized, the DOST-PCIEERD said.
Project e-Smart
One of the four projects in the IM4ManilaBay campaign is the “Ecosystems Modeling and Material Transport: Analysis for the Rehabilitation of Manila Bay,” or Project e-Smart.
In his presentation during the virtual news conference, project leader Dr. Eugene Herrera pointed out that the rehabilitation of the world-famous bay needs to tackle the challenges, such as forest mangrove degradation, waste disposal, shore land encroachment, euthrophication and shellfish poisoning.
Herrera admitted that rehabilitating Manila Bay is a herculean endeavor because it serves as the single outlet of all rainfalls and streams coming from more than 150 rivers.
Moreover, Manila Bay has water system links to Laguna Lake via the Pasig River. The primary objective of e-Smart is to streamline solution interventions for the rehabilitation of Manila Bay through hydrodynamic and material transport analysis of the integrated Manila Bay-Pasig River, Laguna Lake and surrounding watersheds system using numerical modeling.
Furthermore, Project e-Smart will provide as much scientific information as possible, including scenario analysis of various coastal development like reclamation, among others, and their corresponding impacts with regard to the hydrodynamics and water quality dynamics of the Manila Bay environment.
Methodologies to be implemented include hydrologic, hydrodynamic, surge-wave and material transport characterization, bio-chemical characterization, geo-simulation modeling and model scenario analysis
Herrera said e-SMART hopes to publish its research output for knowledge dissemination to the public and peer-reviewed journals; file patents for patentable products and technologies; participate in conferences; produce models, maps, time-series plots, knowledge and modules, develop scenario-based analysis capacity-building for researchers, professors and students; knowledge transfer to cooperating agencies; increased efficiency and expertise in the hydrologic, hydraulic and hydrodynamic research; and provide science-basedrecommendations to national and local policies to support Manila Bay rehabilitation.
As far as the controversial Manila Bay reclamation project is concerned, Herrera stressed that that only a comprehensive benefit/cost analysis can provide realistic, comprehensive and unbiased assessment of the feasibility of such development.
“Considering that such studies should not only quantify the tangible items but also the intangible ones—stakeholder-specific appreciation of the development for example—a full blown cost/benefit analysis is beyond the project’s scope vis-a-vis its available time and resources. Project e-SMART, therefore, reserves such role to the mandated government agencies like [DENR] or the National Economic and Developent Authority instead,” Herrera told the BusinessMirror in an e-mail interview.
Three other projects
The other three projects in the IM4Manila Bay Program include: Integrated Waste Analysis, Survey and Technological Options (Project Iwasto): Development of Integrated Mapping, Monitoring and Analytical Network Systems for Manila Bay and Linked Environments (Project MapAble); and Management not Dredged Material Characterization, Treatment and Disposal (Project CharTED DreaM).
Project Iwasto, led by Dr. Maria Antonia N. Tanchuling. aims to describe and assess the solid waste management (SWM) activities in communities that are part of the Manila Bay watershed.
It also intends to set up appropriate waste-utilization technologies to process biodegradable and plastic wastes in selected communities. SWM information, such as waste characteristics and available facilities, will also be systemized and made available to the general public.
Project MapAble, with by Dr. Ariel C. Blanco at the helm, aims to develop and deploy an integrated system for mapping and monitoring the water quality of Manila Bay and linked systems, including major tributary rivers, using geospatial technologies and citizen science.
Project CharTeD DreaM, led by Engr. Reynaldo L. Esguerra. t aims to provide technology for the management and utilization of dredged materials collected from Tullahan-Tinajeros River System.
The dredged materials will undergo characterization, pretreatment, chemical treatment and immobilization studies. Design of pilot treatment facility will be developed for the utilization of treated dredged materials into concrete aggregates.
With Lyn Resurreccion
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