Dodiongan Falls in Iligan City
Iligan City is considered to be one of the beautiful places in the Philippines. Iligan City is popularly known as "The City of Majestic Waterfalls" because of its numerous waterfalls located in the area. There are 24 waterfalls in the city. Among the 24 waterfalls, Maria Cristina is the most well known in the city and also it's the primary source of electric power of the city, harnessed by the Agus VI Hyrdoelectric Plant.
But the actual state of one of the waterfalls in Iligan City is the most concern of this blog, the Dodiongan Falls located in Barangay Bonbonon, 14 km away from the city proper.
Dodiongan Falls is experiencing a tragedy right now because of the landfill leachate leaks coming from the Central Materials Recovery Facility (CMRCF) located meters away from the said falls.
LANDFILL
The Government had a clean start of its CMRCF but the processing machines started to break down due to excessive amount of garbage which the site can't sustain anymore, causing the local government unit to turn a portion of the lot into a landfill. The thing is, the residents of the barangay started to see black and brown liquid being carried by the streams into the falls and nearby rivers which were approximately a couple of kilometers below the landfill - this where the tension started.
Leachate Pond
The CMRF had a leachate pond which collects and gather the generated leachate coming from the waste. The problem is, during heavy rains, the leachate from the pond overflows causing the overflowed leachate to run through the soil and being carried by the streams into the falls and nearby rivers.
The residents complained that the contamination of leachate into the water streams has caused skin irritation to some. Also, some tourists noticed the black and brown liquid on the surface of the water, which the residents fear of, for this would discourage tourists and affect their means of living.
Another thing is that the residents primarily rely their source of drinking water from springs and deep wells. Digkilaan and Bonbonon are remote barangays that have no access to the Water District's services. What the residents fear is the possibility of contamination in their drinking water in the long run.
The Department of Environmental and Natural Resources is now investigating the complaints. The local government itself has yet to issue a statement on their long- and short-term solution to the leak, and the rehabilitation of the waterfalls.
source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iligan
http://iligantourism.blogspot.com/2016/06/biyahe-ni-drew-sa-iligan.html
http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/09/16/landfill-leachate-leaks-into-dodiongan-falls
Help save Mother Earth, help save Iligan!