Raymond P.

Baldelovar
BSPE 3B
April 23, 2018

Reaction Paper # 3
Mass/Energy Balance
The CMFR is one process used to remedy some environmental issues in terms of waste
production. Phraya River in Bangkok, Thailand is similar in nature compared to our own Pasig
River. These river conditions where in several industrial companies are located. Based on these
condition:

1. Relate the status of Pasig River in terms of industrial discharges.

One of the most culturally relevant bodies of water in the Philippines is the Pasig River.
The river, found at the heart of Manila, was once a potential source of drinking water for locals
and also known to be a flourishing habitat for over twenty-five varieties of fish and thirteen distinct
types of fresh water plants. However, in the last few decades, the Pasig River has fallen prey to
the rapid urbanization and industrialization of Manila, which together with insufficient sanitation
systems, led to the river’s biological death.

Similar in nature to our very own Pasig River is the Chao Phraya River found in Bangkok
City, Thailand. The river supplies water of about 91% of the total demand of Bangkok to
residential, industrial, and commercial sectors. However, just like Pasig River, Chao Phraya River
has also fallen prey to rapid urbanization and industrialization of Bangkok, deteriorating the water
quality of the river and causing a water supply problem.

Two very important rivers found in two different countries, but the same major problem –
Deterioration. We now ask, what could have been reason behind all this?

In the Philippines, when Metro Manila experienced a rapid increase in population, a

number of adverse effects on the Pasig River’s water quality ensued. The rise in population, along
with rapid urbanization and industrialization, led to solid waste and sewage (both domestic and
industrial) being illegally dumped into the river at alarming rates. These include chemical
compounds, medical wastes, asbestos, acids, paints, oils, lubricants, heavy metals and other
volatile organic compounds. In Thailand, they are witnessing water pollution mainly from urban
runoff, ship transport, untreated sewage, septic tank, animal dung, manure spreading, acid rain
and eutrophication.

Examining closely the current problems of each countries, we see that the major culprits
for the two rivers’ decline are industrial pollution, waste dumping, uncontrolled discharges of
agricultural runoffs, and urban migration. The presence of these materials has degraded the water
quality of both Pasig River and Chao Phraya River consequently upsetting its ecological balance.

However, of the two rivers, Pasig River has the worse condition. Examining closely the
source of the pollutants of this river, industrial pollution accounts for 45 percent of the total
pollution source. About 315 of the 2,000 or more factories situated in the river basin have been
determined as principal polluters of the river. This is all because of the lack of the waste treatment
facilities that could treat their industrial wastes into acceptable quality before discharging it into
the river. In addition, the economic problems experienced by the Philippine government have
prevented it from providing better industrial land sites as well as address the deficient
infrastructure or to introduce anti-pollution measures that could have lessen the degradation of
the Pasig River. Comparing the Pasig River’s current situation to that of Chao Phraya River, the
latter is much more better. The government of Thailand has already required all the factories that
operates on the riverbank of Chao Phraya River to have their own waste treatment facilities to
combat the adverse effect of industrial pollution to the river. The Philippine government could
follow this move in order to save the Pasig River.

2. How would the steady state be compared to its non-steady state.

The Pasig River experiences worst condition during the dry season when the river is
practically in a stagnant or steady state condition. In a steady state condition, the sewage (both
domestic and industrial) and solid waste are stagnated on the river. This stagnation causes the
absence of dissolved oxygen within the Pasig River and then gives rise to anaerobic
decomposition with the production of undesirable toxic gases such as hydrogen sulfide, methane,
and ammonia, causing an aesthetic degradation of water quality and leading to the river’s
biological death.

` When the Pasig River experiences a non-steady state condition, particularly when a heavy
rain or typhoon comes, it creates havoc to the communities surrounding it. Examining first the
area, the riverbanks along the low-lying coast of Pasig River is flat, prone to typhoons, and has
elevations ranging from around sea level to 2–3 meters above sea level. Before the 1960s, the
area surrounding the Pasig River is mainly consisted of lagoons, but now it has been filled up and
currently comprised of commercial districts, residential areas, and fishponds. When heavy
precipitation events of over 1 to 3 days associated with typhoons and storm surge happens in
Manila, extreme flood events also occur in the Pasig River. This causes devastations of informal
housings located along the drainage ways. Seeking refuge during such events is also extremely
difficult and hazardous to the population.

These are the reasons why we should act now before it gets even worse.

3. Can we still save this river?

I believe there is still hope in saving the Pasig River. There are many ways on how we can
save this river. A few of what I think would be very effective ways to save the river are the following:

The Pasig River should be subjected to dredging. By doing so, we can gather the bottom
sediments contaminated with chemical compounds, medical wastes, asbestos, acids, paints, oils,
lubricants, heavy metals and other volatile organic compounds and then relocated to a
containment area where it will be treated. This procedure can also keep the waterways navigable.
After dredging, we should do bank improvement and slope protection so that we can prevent the
banks from scouring and erosion.

To address the deteriorating water condition mainly due to sewage and solid wastes, an
artificial surface island reactor will be installed. These will increase dissolved oxygen which is
essential for the healthy functioning of aquatic ecosystems. These systems also prevent the
formation of undesirable toxic gases (e.g. hydrogen sulfide, methane, ammonia) and avert the
release of manganese, iron and other chemicals through reduction-oxidation reactions under
anaerobic conditions. Aerators also boost biological activity in the benthic layer accelerating the
decomposition of organic sewage at the river bottom and improve fishery as a result of enabling
fish to live and feed all the way to the bottom of the water body.

As we can see, widespread environmental problems influence the lives of every Filipino
people every year. Environmental degradation has been an enormous challenge for the Philippine
government. In order to raise public awareness of environmental protection here in the
Philippines, the Philippine Government should spend more money on educating the Filipino
people and providing classes in environmental literacy because public education is always the
most effective tool to arm people with knowledge about the ways of how to protect environment.
In order to tackle the challenges of environmental degradation and achieve greener and cleaner
environmental goal, we should rethink of the emergency of environmental protection and make
green lifestyle choices start from rethinking, reducing, reusing, recycling to responsible.