Tacloban groundwater to be evaluated

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) will tap nuclear science to determine if groundwater in Tacloban City had been contaminated  following Typhoon Yolanda in November 2013.

Alumanda dela Rosa, DOST Philippine Nuclear Research Institute director, said recently that stable isotope hydrology techniques would be used by the PNRI for an evaluation of Tacloban’s groundwater aquifer.

“We want to see the impact of the disaster, of the typhoon on the groundwater resources. We’re starting with Tacloban and also with the adjoining coastal areas,” Dela Rosa told The STAR.

Dela Rosa said that the study could assess the rate of replacement of groundwater from rainfall and other sources, and also evaluate the water composition for any contamination from the effects of the super typhoon that ravaged Tacloban and the entire Eastern Visayas region on Nov. 8, 2013.

Dela Rosa said the baseline data would have a pre- and post-Yolanda groundwater evaluation and comparison, due to a previous study done on the Tacloban aquifer by academician and chemist Wilfren Clutario of Eastern Visayas State University.

In the aftermath of Yolanda, thousands of corpses were scattered all over Tacloban and neighboring cities and municipalities in Leyte and Samar, and most of them were buried in mass graves at selected sites.

The Philippines, through the PNRI, is playing a leading and pioneering role in a global effort that taps nuclear science to provide better access to clean and safe drinking water under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Water Availability Enhancement (IWAVE) project.

Under the project, the IAEA aims to build capacity of member-states in gathering and using scientific information to fully assess the availability and quality of water resources, contributing to the United Nations Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people worldwide without access to clean drinking water.

In the IWAVE project, the PNRI is leading other government agencies in the application of isotope hydrology techniques with data analysis and interpretation of groundwater resources.