Davao City to define 8 watershed areas

The Davao City local government will conduct a survey to define clearly the expanse of watershed areas in the city, according to Christoper Asibal, forester and deputy chief of the Environment and Natural Resources operations division of the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO).
He told reporters that the survey is part of the implementation of the Watershed Code, a policy that protects the drinking water source of the city.
The Watershed Protection, Conservation and Management Ordinance No. 0310-07of Davao City covers eight watersheds namely, Lasang, Sibulan-Sirawan, Panacan-Bunawan, Talomo-Lipadas, Davao River, Matina-Pangi, Tamugan-Panigan and Malagos.
Asibal said a survey has been set on November 5 in the Tamugan-Panigan watershed area where Barangay Tambobong will be the reference point.
He said similar survey will be conducted in the Talomo-Lipadas watershed area.
Asibal explained that based on previous studies, the Tamugan-Panigan watershed has the most sustainable water source for the city.
He also disclosed that the current water supply of the city comes from the Talomo-Lipadas watershed.
“We have to define the expanse of the watershed areas to protect the water sources of the city amid possible erosion and expansion of commercial banana plantations,” Asibal said.
He said the survey will be conducted initially on river banks and buffer zones and areas classified as prone to landslides and soil erosion or highly- critical and hazardous by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau.
Asibal  said the delineation activity will be handled by two teams and will run for 64 days with a total budget at P1.6 Million with P800,000 coming from the city government and another P800,000 coming from the Davao City Water District, respectively.
He said the teams will comprise of members from the city government, DCWD, City-ENRO and a non-government organization.
Asibal   said that during the survey, identified boundaries will be marked accordingly so that the people may know the extent of the watershed areas.
“The implementing rules and regulations of the Watershed Code clearly state that if an entity is given three years to vacate if it is situated within the highly critical area.  Banana firms if found to be within the watershed area must follow the modes of protecting the environment as stipulated on their respective environment compliance certificate ,” he said.  [PIA 11/Joey Sem G. Dalumpines]