Blinded Officials, Wrong Move The government’s way on the rehabilitation of Manila Bay A POSITION PAPER BY BEGASO, A., FERNANDEZ, I., PINE, F. BASCHEM A51
Manila Bay is known as a natural heritage of immense value to culture, science, and the Filipino people (Institute of Environmental Science and Meteorology, n.d.). However, due to the increasing human settlement and years of use and poor management in the bay and areas near it, various environmental problems arose that forced the government and the Supreme Court to issue a mandamus directing government agencies to clean, rehabilitate, and preserve the said bay. The rehabilitation began in January 2019 after Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Roy Cimatu declared the start of the Manila Rehabilitation at the Baywalk. Secretary Cimatu emphasized that the said “battle� in cleaning Manila Bay will not be won with the use of force but with a firm resolution in order to bring Manila Bay back to its primary state. Additionally, the DENR Secretary believed that the government is determined to clean the polluted bay so that it will become a recreational area for many Filipinos.
Introduction
Alongside with the declared mandamus, the court stated that the rehabilitation will undergo three phases, namely cleanup and water quality improvement; rehabilitation and resettlement; and education and sustainment. However, these phases were not seen after the department decided to overlay Manila Bay’s shoreline with crushed dolomite rocks from a mining area in Cebu. With environmental advocates strongly opposing the Php389-million beautification project, the government assured the program was thoroughly reviewed before implementation. However, this event was bombarded with criticisms after it was reported that DENR closed 23 mining firms from different provinces back in 2017 (CNN Philippines, 2017). As they say, it was an ironic and expensive move.
Introduction
The Dolomite, or calcium magnesium carbonate, sands are usually used for construction. According to Chavez (2020), these sands contain high concentrations of aluminum, lead, and mercury which are elements that can cause water pollution and increase water acidity. Besides this, the huge amount of dolomite can cause a decrease in aquatic life forming within the bay that can disturb the environment of different marine organisms living in Manila bay due to the artificial sediments (Abad, 2020). As the officials believed, the addition of dolomite sand in the bay’s shoreline will attract people and visitors, but they were not able to see the consequence of this--the chemical composition of the dolomite sand can pose a problem to the health of these people. According to UP Marine Science Institute (2020), the fine particles of the dolomite sands can cause respiratory problems such as coughing, shortness of breath, and discomfort in the chest. They also stated that when a rise in sea levels and storm occurs, this can cause the sands to be washed away to the bodies of water.
Introduction
Other than this, the dumping of dolomite sand posed other environmental problems. Not just in the bay, but also in Cebu where it was mined. The dolomite resource is being taken in one of the forests that host various kinds of endemic species in Cebu. This massive mining can affect their habitat as well as threaten the region’s species life due to the alteration of their environment (Chavez, 2020). Additionally, it was explained that this is just merely a short term solution and a means for land reclamation, not rehabilitation. By sticking with science- and nature-based solutions, such as investing in mangrove ecosystems, utilizing nanotechnology, and use of green infrastructures, the Philippine government, particularly the DENR can successfully rehabilitate the Manila Bay without compromising health of the visitors, natural resources, and spending a huge amount of money.
Introduction
Mangrove Ecosystem In a statement released by the University of the Philippines Diliman Institute of Biology, the institution expressed its willingness to assist the DENR in forming and implementing a science-based rehabilitation program for the rehabilitation of the heavily polluted bay. This program, as they stated, targets the recovery of the bay’s biological functions and services by restoring and protecting key habitats, reducing pollution, and managing invasive species. One program that is highly recommended is the utilization of mangroves. Mangrove rehabilitation is a cheaper nature-based solution that can contribute in biodiversity conservation and in climate change adaptation. Having ecologically healthy mangroves also helps lessen heavy metal contamination, a condition that beset Manila Bay for a long time.
Mangrove Ecosystem In support with this, studies have shown that mangroves provide essential habitat for thousands of species. It has also the ability to stabilize shorelines, prevents erosion, and protects the land and the people from the occurrence of waves and storms (American Museum of Natural History, n.d.). This study has been supported by Srikanth, Lum, and Chen (2016) and said that mangrove roots collect the silt and sediment that tides carry. In this process, the trees can stabilize shorelines against erosions. Furthermore, Bingham and Kathiresan’s study (2001) proved that mangroves have the capacity to create unique ecological environments that host rich assemblages of species. The muddy or sandy sediments of the mangal are home to a variety of epibenthic, infaunal, and meiofaunal invertebrates. Thus, channels within the mangal support communities of phytoplankton, zooplankton, and fish.
Mangrove Ecosystem The mangal may play a special role as nursery habitat for juveniles of fish whose adults occupy other habitats, like coral reefs and seagrass beds. Other than that, it has proven that living at the interface between land and sea, mangroves are well adapted to deal with natural stressors, such as temperature, salinity, anoxia, and ultraviolet. Thus, mangroves are necessarily tolerant of high salt levels and have mechanisms to take up water despite strong osmotic potentials. Mangroves does not only provide habitat for marine animals but mangrove forests are also excellent at absorbing and storing carbon from the atmosphere. As the trees grow they take the carbon from carbon dioxide and use it as the building blocks for their leaves, roots, and branches.
Mangrove Ecosystem According to the National Museum of Natural History (2018), once the leaves and older trees die they fall to the seafloor and take the stored carbon with them to be buried in the soil. This buried carbon is known as “blue carbonâ€? because it is stored underwater in coastal ecosystems like mangrove forests, seagrass beds, and salt marshes. Specifically, carbon is accumulated in mangroves by direct inputs of mangrove carbon to the soil pool and by increasing rates of mass sediment accumulation. Carbon produced by mangroves does have other ow pathways, such as consumption by living organisms, especially microbes (Alongi, 2014). Carbon consumed is remineralized and either emitted back to the atmosphere as CO2 or exported by dissolved inorganic carbon. Dissolved and particulate organic carbon is also exported by tides where it can be either deposited or eaten or mineralized offshore.
Mangrove Ecosystem
The benefits of utilizing mangrove ecosystems in shorelines, particularly metal-contaminated bays, like Manila Bay, helps in the rehabilitation program because this demonstrates a grasp of land-sea connectivity as well as possible immediate, shortterm, and long-term impacts at species, ecosystem, and seascape scales. As Filipino scientists say, “The recent effort of dumping dolomite sand on a reclaimed part of Manila Bay is not the best way to be spending government money; a critical resource during the pandemic that could have been put to better use by spending for the needs of medical frontliners and the millions of our hungry fellow Filipinos.�
Nanotechnology Treating the waters of Manila Bay is yet another problem that needs to be looked into. Besides the pollutants, and chemicals found in the dolomite sands, there are also various establishments that install illegal drainage systems that lead to the waters of Manila bay. In 2019, DENR caught five establishments within the vicinity of Manila bay that violated the Republic Act 9275 or the Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004. According to DENR (2019), these establishments were “Discharging their wastewater to the storm drainage which empties to Libertad Channel and drains into Manila Bay.� Due to this violation, these businesses were shut down and were required to install their own sewage treatment plant (STP). These violations added other pollutants to the waters of the bay. These are fecal coliform, which are bacteria that live in waste material, feces or intestines of warm blooded animals.
Nanotechnology A high amount of fecal coliform in waters suggests that the water received fecal matter and can carry various diseases such as typhoid fever, hepatitis, gastroenteritis, dysentery, and ear infections. This can also cause the animals, especially marine lives to be killed because the decay of the bacteria depletes the oxygen concentration of the water (Oram, n.d.). DENR has tested the waters of the bay which resulted in a total of 35 million most probable number (mpn) per 100 milliliters of fecal coliform levels. This is still not safe for swimming and bathing, the normal coliform count that is safe would be at 100 mpn/100ml. Due to this, treating the water must be at utmost priority. Another possible way (besides mangroves) to ensure the treatment of the water is using nanotechnology to purify it. Researchers from D.J. Sanghvi College of Engineering, in Mumbai, India, suggests that this form of filtration and treatment is highly efficient. These utilize nanoscopic materials such as carbon nanotubes, zeolite filtration membranes, and alumina fibers for eliminating pollutants within the water.
Nanotechnology
There are also sensors, called nanosensors, which scan the wastewater for various contaminants through applying titanium oxide nanowires or palladium nanoparticles to the sensors. They also said that treating the water depends on the environment the nanotechnology is placed in. It can eliminate chemical effluent, such as gas and oils. Sediments and bacteria can also be removed with the use of nanotechnology. The carbon nanotube membrane eliminates macro sized particles and colloids by the nanofiltration membrane due to a low hole dimension which approximately measures to 1 nm. This helps sift through large particles from the small particles and also in removing bacteria. Another advantage of using nanotechnology is that it only requires low pressure to let the water flow across the filter, it also has a large surface area.
Nanotechnology
According to Serfilco (2014), a high surface area can result in a higher dirt holding capacity, efficient flow rate, cleaner solutions, and less maintenance. The zeolite membrane and carbon is an effective adsorbent of various contaminants. Another thing to note on is the flux performance, the flow rate of water through the membrane is higher than the common filtration system, thus resulting in a faster removal of pollutants (Alkanhal & Tlili, 2019).
Green Infrastructures A study by Liquete, Udias, Conte, et al., (2016) on a nature-based solution for water pollution control introduces the benefits with the use of green infrastructure. Green infrastructures are water retention measures that can be a treatment for waste-water during heavy rain events with the use of the plants and ecosystem. It is also compared with grey infrastructure which refers to the use of concrete and steel for waste-water treatment, and poplar plantation which is “doing nothing� or not utilizing the area. Gorla Maggiore waterpark in Northern Italy is one of the study areas in the research of Liquete, Udias, Conte, et al., (2016). It aims to serve as water purification, flood regulation, natural habitat for organisms, and recreational purposes. It is also used to treat water pollution and water discharged from a river nearby in the area from industrial wastes and toxic materials.
Green Infrastructures The waterpark includes a pollutant removal area, surface, and sub-surface flow constructed wetland or pond, tanks, recreational park with trees, and a green open space. The project was in collaboration with stakeholders who are the ones in charge of decision making and have enough knowledge in terms of infrastructures, the regional government, water agencies, and the municipality. The case study has some measurements to test the effectiveness of the infrastructures in the waterpark. It includes peak flow reduction, reduction of flooding downstream, load reduction of dissolved organic carbon and nitrogen, landscape diversity, number of visitors, the value of wood production, and total construction costs and total maintenance. Multi-criteria (MCA) is used to achieve the value integration of the infrastructures. The integrated valuation includes ecological, social, and economic aspects.
Green Infrastructures
According to the findings in the study with the use of the MCA model in comparison of green and gray infrastructures and poplar plantation, green infrastructures scored and performed better among the rest. Green infrastructure performs better in water pollution control which has the higher weight in the MCA. It also provides a natural habitat for organisms and can be used for recreational activities for visitors. Despite having a low score in wood production and being the most expensive alternative, it still provides more benefits compared to grey infrastructure and popular plantation.
Green Infrastructures
Implementing green infrastructures in Manila Bay is highly suggested as an alternative for the dolomite white sand. This suffices with the issues on climate change, environmental policies, disaster risk management during rainy seasons, serve as a habitat for the ecosystem, and a better alternative for water resource management than grey infrastructures. Furthermore, it also serves aesthetic purposes while being practical compared to the dolomite white sand. It is more efficient, costeffective, and better off for the long run. It is a great investment for addressing social issues that also provide socio-economic benefits for a sustainable economy.
Over the years of poor management, the government decided to rehabilitate Manila Bay in 2019, and improvement or progress was barely seen. Their move on using crushed dolomite rocks amid a pandemic became controversial. The government spent Php389 million and stated that it can be used for recreational purposes. Dolomite sand contains elements that can cause water pollution and increase water acidity. Its components can compromise the health of people with respiratory problems, and the habitat of aquatic species. The dolomite rocks came from Cebu, and excessive mining can result in environmental issues as it threatens biodiversity. This paper highly suggests the use of scienceand nature-based solutions. The use of the mangrove ecosystem is a cheaper alternative solution for the rehabilitation of Manila Bay. It serves as habitats for species, conserves biodiversity, and absorbs carbon dioxide which can also address the issue of climate change. It also reduces heavy metal on the bay, stabilizes shorelines, and prevents erosion.
Conclusion
Researchers from Mumbai, India produced nanotechnology which has nanosensors that can scan water pollutants. It eliminates gas, oils, sediments, bacteria, and can be used to treat water pollutants which contain organisms that carry certain diseases. Another way to resolve the issue of water pollutants is the use of green infrastructures. It is a multi-purpose that can help in treating water pollutants, also serve as habitats for organisms, and can also be used for recreational purposes. The use of dolomite is an impractical, and inefficient way to resolve the environmental issues in Manila Bay. Thus, it was implemented with a pandemic going on. The time, budget, and effort allotted to it can be used in battling the pandemic. The dolomite sand is also high maintenance which can be easily washed away with heavy rains and rising sea levels, as it was seen when consecutive typhoons hit Metro Manila last year. It also compromises health and the environment which is not a sustainable way to sort out environmental issues.
Conclusion
This paper aims to give importance to scienceand nature-based solutions to rehabilitate and preserve Manila Bay. The government must take accountability for their actions as it puts the environment and its people at risk. Dealing with climate change, pollution, and other environmental issues should be the priority of the people as it serves as a home for humans and other organisms.
Conclusion
References Abad, M. (2020). FAST FACTS: What is dolomite sand, and how will it affect Manila Bay? https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/things-toknow-dolomite-sand-affect-manila-bay Alongi, D. (2014). Carbon sequestration in mangrove forests Research Gate. Carbon Management. 3(3):313-322. DOI: 10.4155/cmt.12.20 Bingham, B. and Kathiresan, K. (2001). Biology of mangroves and mangrove Ecosystems. Advances in Marine Biology. ScienceDirect. Vol. 40, 2001, p. 81-251. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2881(01)40003-4 Chavez, L. (2020). Is Manila’s new white sand coast a threat to marine life? https://www.ecobusiness.com/news/is-manilas-new-white-sandcoast-a-threat-to-marine-life/ DENR. (2019). DENR: High coliform levels render Manila Bay unsafe for bathing. https://www.denr.gov.ph/index.php? id=832&page=89&sort=&filter=& searchword= DENR. (2019). Manila Bay Establishments Now Required To Connect To Sewer Lines, Set Up Own Treatment Plants. https://www.denr.gov.ph/index.php/newsevents/press-releases/988-manila-bayestablishments-now-required-to-connect-to-sewerlines-set-up-own-treatment-plants
References Inderscience Publishers. (2010). Nanotechnology for water purification. ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100728111711. htm Inquirer.Net. (2020). Mangroves, not dolomite: UP group offers help in ‘science-based’ bay rehab. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1345497/mangrovesnot-dolomite-up-group-offers-help-in-sciencebased-bay-rehab#ixzz6lZpoS6wi Liquete, C., Udias, A., Conte, G., Grizzetti, B., & Masi, F. (2016). Integrated valuation of a nature-based solution for water pollution control. Highlighting hidden benefits. Ecosystem Services, 22, 392-401. National Museum of Natural History. (2018). Mangroves. Smithsonian. Ocean Find Your Blue. Mangroves | Smithsonian Ocean (si.edu) Oram, B. (n.d.). Fecal Coliform Bacteria in Water. https://www.water-research.net/index.php/fecalcoliform-bacteria-in-water San Juan, A. (2020). Dolomite bad for Manila Bay; plant mangroves instead--UP scientists. Manila Bulletin Publication. https://mb.com.ph/2020/10/09/dolomite-bad-formanila-bay-plant-mangroves-instead-upscientists/
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