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THE
environment group Greenpeace on Thursday raised the
alarm over the safety of rural people at risk of
drinking water that is contaminated with nitrate,
particularly in
Thailand
and the Philippines.
In its
report titled “Nitrates in drinking water in the
Philippines and Thailand” simultaneously released in
both countries, Greenpeace said water in key
agricultural areas are contaminated with nitrate
alarmingly well above World Health Organization (WHO)
safety limits due to overuse of chemical fertilizers.
Drinking
water with high levels of nitrate can cause serious
health problems, especially in children. The greatest
risk of nitrate poisoning is “blue baby syndrome” or
methemoglobinemia, which occurs in infants given
nitrate-laden water, and particularly affects babies
under four months of age. Blue-baby syndrome can provoke
cyanosis, headache, stupor, fatigue, tachycardia, coma,
convulsions, asphyxia and ultimately death.
Drinking
water contaminated with nitrates also has a potential
role in developing cancers of the digestive tract, and
has also been associated with other types of cancer such
as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, bladder and ovarian cancers.
The
report is the result of a Greenpeace Water Patrol
investigation that studied nitrate levels in drinking
water sources and their relation to nitrogen fertilizer
used in farming areas in the two countries.
“Greenpeace has been sending out warning signals that
the quality of our freshwater sources is declining, and
this study is yet another shocking example of how our
water protection measures are inadequate. The nitrate
pollution that we discovered in farming areas is
particularly worrisome—communities think that the water
they drink everyday is clean because physically, it
doesn’t smell bad or look bad. But it is actually laced
with nitrates from fertilizers, which people don’t
normally associate with pollution,” said Greenpeace
campaigner Daniel Ocampo.
In the
Philippines, the Greenpeace Water Patrol investigation
looked into crops and farming practices in Benguet and
Bulacan provinces, surveying and testing nitrate levels
in water from wells and streams around farms, and
interviewing farmers and townsfolk.
Five out
of the 18 artesian wells in Benguet and Bulacan
contained nitrates levels well above the WHO drinking
water-safety limit of 50 mg/l NO3. The highest levels
were found in groundwater in Buguias, Benguet, at 50
percent above the WHO safety limit. The pollution could
have serious health implications for the local
population. Ground water is their main source of
drinking water.
Surface
waters were also sampled in both provinces and generally
showed lower nitrate levels than ground water sources,
mainly due to the rapid cycling of nitrates in surface
waters in tropical climates. However, for both surface
and ground waters, the high input of nitrogen into the
aquatic ecosystems also has negative environmental
effects on the local and regional level, such as the
growth of harmful algal blooms in coastal waters.
“This
case shows that drinking- water sources are threatened
not just by pollution from industrial sources like
factories, but also by chemical-intensive agricultural
practices,” said Ocampo.
“This
report shows that unless the government implements
policies to ensure the proper use and application of
fertilizers in agriculture, we will lose more of our
valuable water resources. Both the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the
Department of Agriculture must implement stronger
measures to protect our ground water from pollution from
agricultural chemicals. Nitrate pollution must
consistently be monitored and prevented, and the
dangerous practice of overusing fertilizers in intensive
agriculture is a serious threat that must be stopped.
Fertilizer subsidies must be phased out and
fertilizer-reduction policies implemented,” said Ocampo.
Last
month, Greenpeace highlighted freshwater sources in
Cavite province and Marilao, Bulacan, which are
threatened by heavy pollution from industries. Water
Patrol activists called attention to
Marilao
River, one of the country’s 50 dead rivers due to high
levels of toxic heavy metals from industries along its
stretch, and delivered samples of toxic ground water
taken from around Cavite’s Export Processing Zone, to
the DENR.
“Clean
and safe drinking water is a basic human need. We
believe that it is possible to produce food without
compromising the integrity of our water systems. To
protect our dwindling freshwater resources,
agriculture—just like industries—must focus in pollution
prevention. Government must adapt a thorough approach at
water pollution prevention and look at policies that
will eliminate harmful chemicals from source, that is,
the production process itself,” said Greenpeace
Southeast Asia toxics campaigner Beau Baconguis. |
