Garbage is still the problem

The rainy season has begun, along with the typhoon season. Typhoon Crising has brought continuous rains to Metro Manila. And when it rains that hard, some areas flood. The problem of flooding in Metro Manila has yet to be solved. Several administrations have come and gone, all promising flood control programs, yet the same issues persist when heavy rains or a typhoon occur.

The problem of flooding cannot be solved unless the root cause is addressed, which is the dumping of garbage everywhere, particularly in the estuaries and creeks. I watched a video on YouTube about Bangladesh, which has the worst pollution in the world. The estuaries are so clogged with garbage that you can walk on the surface. Estuaries allow water to flow to rivers, lakes, and the sea. When clogged, that's where the flooding starts. A group in Bangladesh volunteered to remove the garbage so that the water could flow. It was evident that when garbage was removed, the water flowed. The sad thing is that in just a few days, the estuary was blocked again with garbage, so what happened in Bangladesh was only a temporary solution.

The same situation happens in Metro Manila. Garbage is dumped in the estuaries. The Pasig River flows from Laguna de Bay to Manila Bay. Estuaries act as tributaries to the Pasig River. The Marikina River leads to the Pasig River.  All of them are connected so that water can flow to Manila Bay. When there is a blockage in any waterway, the result is flooding. The Manggahan floodway was built to divert water from the Marikina River to Laguna de Bay and act as a temporary reservoir. But there are times when it is not enough to stop flooding in Manila.

Local government units and the national government need to address the problem of dumping garbage in streams, lakes, and rivers. Many people live around the Pasig River. Garbage should not be dumped in the river. But no matter how much cleaning the government does, it ends up in vain if people continue to throw garbage into the river. The older generation told me they could swim in the Pasig River because it was clean. Several projects to clean up the Pasig River have failed because of the continued dumping of garbage or the modernization of the metro. I’ve seen estuaries filled with concrete, perhaps to accommodate another building. There really is a price to pay. Just imagine if the Pasig River were clean and people could still swim in it. Might as well include the Marikina River and Manila Bay. Imagine that.