Drinking water in parts of Benguet, Bulacan contaminated with nitrates

An international environmental group is again raising the alarm over pollution in drinking water in the Philippines, as it recently discovered nitrate contamination of several water sources in areas in Benguet and Bulacan.

In its new report entitled “Nitrates in drinking water in the Philippines and Thailand,” Greenpeace examined the nitrate levels in drinking water sources like artesian wells and creeks in Benguet and Bulacan and their relation to nitrogen fertilizer use in farming areas in the two provinces.

“Greenpeace has been sending out warning signals that the quality of our freshwater source is declining, and this study is yet another shocking example of how our water protection measures are inadequate,” said Daniel Ocampo, a campaigner of Greenpeace-Southeast Asia.

According to Ocampo, their study indicated “worrisome” levels of nitrate pollution in water sources in farming areas in Benguet and Bulacan. 

He said the study showed that five out of the 18 water sources where they took samples from, have nitrate contamination that are “alarmingly well above the safety limits” of the World Health Organization, whose standard is 50 mg/l of nitrates in drinking water.

“Communities think that the water they drink every day 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,” he said.

Based on the study, the result of Greenpeace Water Patrol’s weeklong investigation during the last week of September, drinking water from two artesian wells in Buguias, Benguet, and three others in Angat, Bulacan were found to have nitrate levels well above the WHO standard.

The highest nitrate level was found in groundwater in Buguias at 50 percent higher than the WHO standard, the study said. 

Greenpeace warned that the pollution could have serious health implications for the local population, especially since groundwater is the main source of their drinking water.

The report’s author, Reyes Tirado, of the Greenpeace Science Unit in the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, said nitrate pollution of drinking water from artesian wells correlates with intensive farming practices in the affected areas where nitrogen fertilizers are applied in excess.

“Nitrogen fertilizer consumption in Asia has grown dramatically, increasing approximately 17-fold in the last 40 years. Fertilizer application rates are increasing rapidly in some developing countries, reaching excess amounts that can no longer be used by crops and which cause problems for human health and the environment,” Tirado said in the report.

“Excess application of nitrogen fertilizers in intensive crop production leads to nitrate pollution of the artesian wells that people use for drinking water,” he added.

Amid the findings, Greenpeace called on the government to take decisive and concrete measures to ensure clean water for the people.

Specifically, the group urged the Department of Agriculture to phase out its subsidies for fertilizers, including the “dangerous practice” of over-using fertilizers in intensive agriculture, and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to seriously reassess its programs on the protection of clean water sources.

Greenpeace said the experience of other countries shows that fertilizer reduction policies significantly contribute to a cleaner and safer drinking water supply.

“There’s really a problem on how the government makes or implements policies against water pollution. The government is either not doing things properly or doing it excessively,” said Beau Baconguis, toxics campaigner of Greenpeace-Southeast Asia.

“It’s about time that the government really look into this and take concrete action to ensure non-contamination of clean water sources for the people,” she added.

Greenpeace said drinking water with high levels of nitrate could cause serious health problems, especially among children.

The greatest risk of nitrate poisoning, it said, is the “blue baby syndrome” or methemoglobinemia, which occurs in infants given nitrate-laden water and particularly affects babies under four months old. 

The blue baby syndrome can cause cyanosis, headache, stupor, fatigue, tachycardia, coma, convulsions, asphyxia, and ultimately death.

Greenpeace said drinking water contaminated with nitrates 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 cancer.         – With Dino Balabo