BORACAY â Making this island resort a water quality management area (WQMA) will ensure the protection of its coasts, according to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
Section 5 of Republic Act 9275, or the Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004, mandates the DENR and the National Water Resources Board to designate areas as WQMA using appropriate physiographic units such as watershed, river basins or water resources regions.
If the plan pushes through, Boracay will be the fourth WQMA in Western Visayas, along with the Iloilo Batiano River System, the Tigum-Aganan Watershed and the Jalaur River.
âWater quality is important because it could affect the ground and other environmental and physical factors,â Engineer Bonifacio Enorme Jr., DENRâs WQMA focal person, said on Sunday.
Enorme added that declaring Boracay as a WQMA would enable an inter-agency body to control and prevent water pollution in the island.
The WQMA body is expected to be formed within the year after subsequent meetings, Enorme said.
The inter-agency body will be composed of representatives from the government, the private sector, nongovernment organizations, and civil society groups.
It will also be tasked to ensure that the public will regularly get information regarding the water quality monitoring results in Boracay coasts.
Currently, the DENR-Environmental Management Bureau is conducting regular monitoring of the islandâs water quality. (With a report from PNA/PN)
