TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan (PIA) — The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Region 2’s entry, Calao-Delinquente-Diadi River (CDD), won first place in the 2024 Recognizing Individuals and Institutions Towards Vibrant and Enhanced Rivers (RIVERs) for Life Awards national competition.
The CDD river system located in Santiago City, Isabela, under the administrative jurisdiction of Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) San Isidro, was chosen as the most improved Class C River based on the criteria for selection that include water quality improvement, solid waste management system, and program sustainability.
Cagayan Valley Regional Executive Director Gwendolyn Bambalan said the department and the city government collaborated to ensure the maintenance of the river system.
To achieve this, the agency and the local government strengthened policies on proper waste management, implementation of river slope protection projects, development of sewerage system, establishment of material recovery facility, and conduct of regular declogging of canals, cleanup drives, and bamboo and tree growing activities.
Covering 37 barangays certified with zero open defecation, the fecal coliform level in the said river system has a reduction rate ranging 68-99 percent in all monitoring stations based on the water quality monitoring and trend analysis regularly conducted by the DENR through the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB).
“The city government has also integrated into their local sanitation code the preservation of CDD’s water quality by constructing community toilets and conducting a quarterly Linis-Ilog drive mobilizing almost 500 climate change adaptation and mitigation workers in various barangays,” Director Bambalan said.
RIVERs for Life is an annual national recognition mechanism implemented by the DENR to commend the efforts of field offices and other institutions in the sustainable management and improvement of the water quality of rivers.
Bambalan and other key officials of DENR and Santiago City received a plaque of recognition and a cash prize of P100,000 from Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo Loyzaga during the awarding ceremony held yesterday in Laguna.
Assistant Regional Directors Enrique Pasion, Grace Cariño and Marcos Dacanay; Isabela PENR Officer Orly Cariazo, San Isidro CENR Officer Edmundo Malupeng, EMB Regional Director Nelson Honrado, Mines and Geosciences Bureau Regional Director Mario Ancheta, and Santiago City ENR Officer Mario de Guzman also joined in receiving the award. (OTB/PIA Region 2 with reports from DENR)
