Buhay party-list Rep. Joselito Atienza on Sunday said the waters of Manila Bay are now “several times filthier” compared to 22 year ago.
He said Manila Bay was much cleaner before when concerned residents
then filed a civil suit that prompted the Supreme Court to order government agencies to clean up Manila Bay.
“We checked court records. Water samples taken from Manila Bay way back in 1999 showed fecal coliform counts of 50,000 to 80,000 most probable number per milliliter (ml),” he said in a statement.
“In contrast, based on the most recent water samples taken from major outfalls along Roxas Boulevard, fecal coliform counts now range anywhere from 11 million to 54 million MPN per ml,” he added.
A very high fecal coliform count suggests the heavy presence of bacteria or viruses in the water that may cause diseases, such as typhoid fever, viral and bacterial gastroenteritis, and hepatitis A.
“This is really not surprising because up to now, of the 16.3 million water-served population in Metro Manila, only 15 percent or2.4 million are connected to a sewerage system,” the party-list lawmaker said.
“The bulk of Metro Manila’s household toilet waste continues to drain into waterways, including the Pasig River, that all empty out into the bay every day,” he added.
The uncontrolled outflow of human sewage should be stopped to decontaminate Manila Bay, he noted.
On Dec. 8, 2008, the Supreme Court in a landmark decision issued a mandamus directing 13 government agencies “to clean up, rehabilitate and preserve Manila Baya, and restore and maintain its waters to SB
Llevel [Class B sea waters per Water Classification Tables under DENR Administrative Order 34 (1990) to make them fit for swimming, skin-diving and other forms of contact recreation.”
In a separate case, the Supreme Court in 2019 penalized Metro MAnila’s two private water concessionaires and the Metropolitan Waterworks Sewerage System with P1.84 billion in combined fines due to their failure to connect households to a sewerage system and their lack of wastewater treatment facilities.