By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco / Correspondent
THE Wattah! Wattah! Festival in San Juan City should not be remembered only as the dousing of water, but should be a reminder of the importance of clean rivers for the people’s benefit and for the future generation.
Thus, said Mayor Guia Gomez at the celebration on June 24 of the feast of Saint John the Baptist, the city’s patron saint.
Gomez said this year’s celebration featured colorful used soda/water murals installed along N. Domingo Street, which was designed based on the theme “Wattah Life” and was expected to advocate environmentalism.
“It is sad to say that garbage are thrown into creeks. This [Wattah! Wattah!] is our way of saying let us clean our water, so that we will have clean water in the future,” Gomez said partly in Filipino in an interview on the side of the event.
Gomez is optimistic that San Juan would have pristine water in the future if the residents will help protect the river and creeks by not throwing their garbage into it and to prevent flooding as well.
“Hopefully our activity [Wattah! Wattah!] would open the eyes of our people have the same water in the future,” Gomez said, adding that they invited the students and barangay residents to participate raise their awareness on the importance of clean environment.
“They have to think of the environment. They should remember that if they cut trees we won’t have clean water,” she explained.
“Every year we try our best to make the Wattah! Wattah! San Juan Festival better. We involve our barangays and schools in the program, and this year we opted to give them more time to prepare for their winning street-dance performances. I issued Executive Order 02-212, Series of 2015, suspending classes in all levels to allow the faculty members and students to participate at the festival [on June 24],” Gomez said.
Heavily silted river
According to the San Juan City Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro), the 10.581-kilometer San Juan River straddles Quezon City, San Juan, Manila and Mandaluyong. Its entire basin, including its tributaries, has a catchment area of 90.4 square kilometers, comprising the lower half of Quezon City, the City of San Juan and parts of Mandaluyong City, Pasig City and Manila. Of the total area, about 78 sq k is located in Quezon City.
The City of San Juan occupies roughly 2 kilometers of the river.
The main cause of flooding in some barangays in the city is the heavily silted San Juan River, where most of the garbage flow from upstream Quezon City down to San Juan, Mandaluyong and Manila, that eventually ends up in Pasig River.
The Cenro said they do regular dredging and desilting of the Pasig and San Juan rivers, desludging, cleaning and improvement of drainage systems to mitigate flooding.
They also adopt various clean-up programs along the creeks and rivers involving the residents, volunteers, non-government organizations and government-led plans of action or programs.
For San Juan, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Bayanihan Zone Alliances actively participates in the agency’s flood control in Bayanihan Zone Alliances Zones 6 and 7 that conduct clean-up operations along creeks, and monitor the flood-control program of the MMDA in San Juan City and Mandaluyong City.
River warriors
Gomez formed the San Juan River Warriors, a group of dedicated volunteers who are environment-conscious and want to safeguard the Pasig River and the waterways leading to it, including the San Juan River, through community mobilization and clean-ups.
This will ensure the sustainability of rehabilitation and consciousness-changing efforts on the San Juan River. They underwent training on military drills and reception, waste management, water training, legal issues: environmental laws, community planning, lecture on leadership and commitment/river warrior creed.
To strengthen the existing local laws on the protection of the waterways in San Juan City, the Cenro forwarded to the Sangguniang Panlungsod the passing and implementation of the ordinance prohibiting the act of dumping of any form of waste in the water systems of San Juan City, Metro Manila, including the San Juan River, the Maytunas and Ermitanyo creeks, and provide penalties.
In 2013 San Juan was chosen to be the pilot area for the implementation of the Zero Casualty Program for the relocation of informal settler families living along the three-meter easement of major rivers and tributaries in the whole Metro Manila.
Eighty-seven families then voluntarily left their homes and agreed to be relocated to a resettlement area in Barangay Muzon, San Jose del Monte in Bulacan.