Author : Generao, Ma. Emelie M.

Summary : The study aimed to find out the extent of pollution of Parongking River in Pangasinan, Philippines, to determine the interrelationhip among the various river system components in relation to resource use and management. To assess the degree of pollution of the river, physico-chemical parameters such as water depth, transparency, salinity, pH, dissolve oxygen (DO), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), phosphate, and ammonia, and biological parameters (i.e. total coliform and fecal coliform counts and macroinvertebrate density and diversity) were used. The river system components studied were: 1) the communities located along the river, represented by three barangays (i.e. Bued and San Miguel of Calasiao and Mangin, Dagupan); 2) the agro-industries, represented by a softdrink bottling company, three bijon (transparent noodle) factories, and the agriucltural lands adjacent to the river's upstream portion; and 3) the institutional component, consisting of the Local Government Units (LGUs, namely: city/municipality, provincial, and village), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR, regional and provincial levels), and the Human and Allied Resources Advocacy for Development through Interaction (HARDIN), an umbrella organization representing 65 (NGOs). Results showed that the river, classified as Class C, no longer serves its intended use as a fishery resource. There are no more fishes in the area, especially in the upstream portion. The BOD determined in the seven sampling stations ranged from 13 to 100 mg/L as aganist the standard of 7-10 mg/L. Only one out of 14 observations had DO values within 5 mg/L required minimum. Results of the analysis of the diversity of the benthic community (ranging from 0 to 2.09) showed that the river was moderately to heavily polluted. Organisms found were all pollution indicators. The above-mentioned river system components appear to have contributed to its present state. The communities were not willing to cooperate in any rehabilitation effort of the government.