The state of water resources in the Philippines - Greenpeace

treatment and lost income from illness and death due to water pollution is pegged
at PHP6.7 billion (US$134 million) per year (PEM 2006).
Pollution of our water resources such as untreated wastewater discharges affect
human health through the spread of disease-causing bacteria and viruses. Some
known examples of diseases that may be spread through wastewater discharge
are gastro-enteritis, diarrhea, typhoid, cholera, dysentery, hepatitis, and, recently,
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) (PEM 2003).
According to the World Bank, just under a third, or 31 percent of illnesses in the
country, monitored for a five-year period were caused by water-borne pathogens.
In the agriculture sector, application of agrochemicals (i.e. fertilizers, herbicides,
pesticides) remains a common practice among farmers in rural areas. Intensive
use of agrochemicals has been known to create and result to both environmental
problems and diseases. The hazards accompanying this practice, especially
those associated with persistent organic pollutants or POPs have been known for
years and the knowledge of the extent of harm they cause has increased.
According to a study by Dr. N. Maramba (1996), most farmers may be aware that
pesticides are hazardous but there is a lack of awareness of exposure risks.
Pesticide handlers are the ones most heavily exposed. In addition, exposure of
households in farming communities may occur due to spray drift from nearby
fields. This exposure is further enhanced by farmers’ practice of washing their
sprayers near, or in, irrigation canals, which may then become part of agricultural
runoff. They also use this water source for washing of hands and feet, clothes,
and to some extent, for taking a bath.
Several cases were cited in the study concerning organochlorine poisonings,
aplastic anemia, eye, skin, nail, pulmonary, renal, and neurological problems
found to be significantly associated with pesticide exposure.
Maramba’s report further mentions that groundwater near rice paddies may at
times contain pesticide residues. While levels detected were below the allowable
limit, this may present long-term chronic exposure problems.
Problems caused by exposure, the report stipulates, are further aggravated by
the fact that very few epidemiological studies on human populations have been
designed to investigate pesticide exposure and pesticide-related illnesses among
affected populations, resulting in possible health risks for the broader population.
An article by Juan Mercado in the Philippine Daily Inquirer last February 22,
2007, highlights the threats of aerial spraying of pesticides over Mindanao
banana plantations. He mentioned that around 13.5 metric tons of toxic mercury
is being washed yearly into major rivers, from Naboc to Kinking, which then flows
into the Davao Gulf. Lead tailings poison the Hijo, Matiao, Masara, Batoto, and
Manat Rivers. Mercury-laced waters, from Compostela Valley, seep into
tributaries, as they drain into Butuan Bay. Mercury-stained stream sediments also
threaten the Agusan River.
GREENPEACE | The state of water in the Philippines 22