Eighteen (18) areas distributed in Kprpnadal City, Surallah, Tampakan, Tantangan and T’boli were chosen by the Provincial Environment Management Office (PEMO) to conduct Water Quality Analysis Test (WQAT) before the year ends in 2016, a PEMO environment specialist disclosed recently.
Environment Management Specialist I Jobie de Jesus said that WQAT is regularly conducted year-round on a quarterly basis province-wide to assess the quality of water from rivers, creeks and likewise waste water discharged from hospital, slaughterhouse and public market
Parameters used by PEMO in the WQAT were Temperature, pH, Dissolved Oxygen, Turbidity, Nitrates and Cyanide.
Areas tested in Koronadal City were Koronadal City Slaughterhouse, South Cotabato Provincial Hospital Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF), B’lok Creek and Marbel River.
Four areas in B’lok Creek, namely; upstream situated in Sitio Upper Acub, San Isidro, midstream near Jollibee Drive-Thru, Zone III, downstream located in San Felipe Dam, Tantangan and wastewaters coming from Koronadal City Public Market, were tested.
Likewise, Marbel River upstream located in Taplan River, midstream (Bo. 2, Koronadal City) and downstream (Bgy. Caloocan, Koronadal City) were similarly tested.
Other areas tested were Tampakan Public Market WWTF, Tampakan Slaughterhouse, T’boli Public Market WWTF, T’boli Slaughterhouse, Surallah Public Market WWTF and Surallah Slaughterhouse.
B’lok Creek upstream in Sitio Upper Acub, San Isidro was the only area that passed all parameters.
Those who failed in the Dissolved Oxygen were B’lok Creek midstream, upstream and wastewater from Koronadal City Public Market, Tampakan Public Market WWTF and Slaughterhouse, South Cotabato Provincial Hospital WWTF and Koronadal City Slaughterhouse.
Results from Marbel River tests, on the other hand, showed all areas failed the pH parameter.
Meanwhile, T’boli Public Market WWTF and Slaughterhouse both failed the Dissolved Oxygen and Phosphates parameters.
Surallah Public Market WWTF and Slaughterhouse likewise failed the Phosphates parameter.
De Jesus added they will copy furnished all LGUs concerned regarding the results of their WQAT.
