60% of PHl beaches unsafe due to fecal coliform levels – EMB-DENR

The Environmental Management Bureau (EMB-DENR) reported that the amount of fecal bacteria found in 60 percent of the country's recreational waters exceeded safe levels, GMA 7 news program "24 Oras" reported on Friday.

According to the EMB's 2017 study, samples were taken from 351 of the agency's monitoring stations all over the country, and, after testing, they found that only 40 percent of public beaches passed the safety standard of 100 most probable number (mpn)/100 ml fecal coliform count.

The EMB also found that more than 2,000 beaches in the country showed a considerably "high" level of the bacteria, which comes from animal feces.

None of the samples taken from the EMB's 26 monitoring stations in the Central Visayas, and the 36 in the Zamboanga Peninsula, passed the safe standard. Among these samples were those taken from famous beaches in Panglao, Bohol and Mactan, Cebu.

Bacoor

Topping all the areas that failed the test was Bacoor, Cavite, where 602,424.44 mpn/100 ml of fecal coliform was found, exceeding the 100 mpn limit over 6,000 times.

The Bacoor City government had thus prohibited swimming in area waters because of the health risk.

"Galing 'to sa warm-bodied animals -- tayo, mga animals, 'yung lahat ng feces. 'Yung dumi nila. So pag mataas ito, tumataas ang fecal coliform ng water body. Ibig sabihin, they are directly discharging itong mga duming tao derecho sa tubig," Department of Environment and Natural Resources Undersecretary Jonas Leones explained.

"Pag nainom ito ng mga taong naliligo du'n, maaari silang magkaroon ng problema sa tiyan. 'Yung kanyang skin, baka magkaroon ng kati-kati," Leones emphasized.

Bacoor's Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) officer-in-charge Rolando Vocalan meanwhile said that they were taking measures to address the problem, such as relocating formal settlers who were presently residing in areas without proper toilet facilities.

"Magpapatayo po kami ng mga common toilet po diyan sa mga ating mga informal settler habang hindi pa po sila nare-relocate. Kasama din po 'yung tinatawag na mga activity sa taas ng Cavite kasi po pumupunta rin po sa amin kasi po kami rin 'yung end pipe," Vocalan pointed out.

La Union, Bataan

The situation was similar in Bauang, La Union's beaches, where coliform levels exceeded the safe limit eight times over and where water lilies were abundant.

Nevertheless, vacationers could still be seen heedlessly entering these waters.

Likewise, none of the waters tested in all three of Morong, Bataan's monitoring stations yielded results within safe standards.

The head of Morong' Barangay Nagbalayong said he suspected that two well-known beach resorts in the area were allegedly discharging waste water directly into the ocean.

"Baka...matulad po kami sa Boracay na maipasara lahat ng mga beach dito. 'Wag naman po sanang mangyari," he said worridly.

President Rodrigo Duterte had earlier ordered Boracay be closed for six-months given that the island had become a "cesspool." — Margaret Claire Layug/DVM, GMA News