Expert Says Dredging Cagayan River Not The Best Solution to Reduce Flooding in the City

14 Nov Expert Says Dredging Cagayan River Not The Best Solution to Reduce Flooding in the City

Image Source | CDODev

In a report by Sun.Star, Dr. Rosalina Huerbana, executive director of Safer River, Life Saver Foundation, Inc.,  said that dredging the Cagayan River could destroy the flora and fauna and could disturb living organisms underwater.

Huerbana’s concerns were addressed to what the City Council has discussed during their session held last November 7, 2016, Monday, regarding the dredging of Cagayan River to prevent potential flooding in the city. She added that dredging is not the best solution to the problem.

Cagayan De Oro City Councilor Ian Mark Nacaya explained that the Cagayan River needs to be dredged since the river has been made shallow because of boulders, rocks, and silt that were brought down by heavy rains upstream. Thus, causing floods to riverside barangays when heavy rains happen.

In the city, two types of dredging are being practiced; mechanical dredging in Bonbon with the use of machines; and manual dredging in Consolacion.

Since they have started rehabilitating the river, Herbuana said that they have a program in aquaculture which lets them disperse different species of fingerlings into the river. Thus, a holistic study must be conducted first by the City Council before implementing the said plan.

Chair of the committee on environment, City Councilor Zaldy Ocon, desired not only choose parts of the river but the whole of it to be excavated, adding that they will be sending a letter to the president to let him know about the plan of dredging the Cagayan river, and also, to direct concerned agencies,  if the plan achievable.

Meanwhile, City Councilor Teodulfo Lao Jr. said that there should be proper guidelines to be established which can assure that the plan will not cause damages to the riverbeds and the habitat of living organisms underwater. The said guidelines follow the national standards of dredging such as the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Department Order No. 139, Series of 2014 standards. This involves doing series of soil investigation and securing Environmental Compliance Certificate or Certificate of Non-Coverage coming from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

At present, there is no existing ordinance on quarrying which is supposed to regulate quarry operators in the city. Instead, the body consisted of the City Mining and Regulatory Board which is being chaired by the director of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) and co-chaired by City Councilor Ocon, issues the permits to quarry operators.

The said plan will be put under a public-private partnership arrangement, thus, the city government won’t be spending money for it.