• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.173-179
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• 2010

Pasig River is an important river in the Metro Manila, Philippines, since it provides food, livelihood and transport to its residents, and connects two major water bodies; Laguna de Bay and Manila Bay. However, it is now considered to be the toilet bowl of Metro Manila due to the large amount of wastes dumped into the river. Even with the efforts of the government to revive the quality of the Pasig River and its tributaries, it continues to deteriorate over time. This paper provides an overview of the current condition of the Pasig River. The existing water management policies were reviewed, and the issues and challenges hindering the improvement of its water quality identified. Moreover, the water qualities of the rivers in Metro Manila were compared to those of the major rivers in South Korea. The current watershed management system practiced by South Korea has been discussed to serve as a guideline for future recovery of the water quality of the rivers in the Philippines.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.43-53
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• 2018

Laguna Lake is the largest inland fresh water body in the Philippines. It primarily serves as a site for aquaculture, hydropower, transportation, and water supply industries. Due to Laguna Lake's diverse functionalities, competition among water users became prominent. Water quality began to deteriorate due to various pollutant contributions in this process, thereby affecting the soundness of the aquatic ecosystem. This study was conducted to evaluate the current water quality management policy from the viewpoint of ecological environment through the evaluation of the water quality of Laguna Lake. Concentrations of water pollutants such as ammonia ($NH_3$), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chloride ($Cl^-$), pH, and total suspended solids (TSS) exceeded the water quality standards of the Philippines' Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). The water quality of the lake was also affected by the pollutant load due to agriculture and urban stormwater runoff in the watershed. The salinity and contaminated water from Pasig River also affected the water quality of Laguna Lake. Long-term water quality analysis showed that the water quality of Laguna Lake is also influenced by rainfall-related seasonal variations. The results of the water quality analysis of Laguna Lake indicated that the environmental management techniques of the Philippines should be changed from the conventional water management into an integrated watershed management scheme in the future. It is therefore necessary to study and introduce advanced watershed management measures in the Philippines based from the policies of other developed countries.