Just saw this report on President Noynoy Aquino saying that he intends to finally solve the pollution of Pasig River -- which as you know flows at the back of Malacanang Palace.
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Perhaps the whole thing about cleaning the Pasig River could have been on his mind even before setting foot in Malacanang. Perhaps he also listened to his media backers (one of which is ABS-CBN) to lead the clean up of the river that flows right behind the so-called highest office in the land. Perhaps he was following the advise of feng shui experts.
But no matter what the real reason is, I think this is definitely a good thing to do.
We have a water shortage and perhaps the solution to this is flowing just outside Malacanang's backdoor.
Getting potable water from the Pasig River seems like a far-fetched idea right now. Sure!
However, you also have to consider that London sources some of its water from River Thames and I think New York gets some water from the Delaware and Hudson rivers.
I think there was a period when the Rivers Thames, Hudson, and Delaware were polluted to the point where people contracted diseases from them. This prompted the people to urge the authorities in these areas to install sewerage treatment facilities that would clean up the water that was dumped into the river and also compelled the city governments to implement strict anti-dumping laws.
We fully believe that if President Aquino is serious about cleaning up Pasig River, it will happen. He has the backing of a lot of people and I think all city governments -- as well as corporations and private sector groups -- will pull all stops to help him.
Cleaning up the Pasig River seems to be gaining resurgence and more adherents. Just recently, we've noticed new blogs coming out that are dedicated to posing solutions to Pasig River pollution.
One blog is the Pasig River Avenger and it has come up with a very good idea.
Another blog that came out recently has this to say about cleaning the Pasig River:
Many years ago I attended a seminar. One of the speakers was Architect Felino Palafox Jr. He talked about reviving Pasig River.
He pointed out that the river became the way it is because people treated it as if it were part of their backyard. To illustrate his point he said that the factories along the Pasig River were all facing away from the river. He added that what faced the river were the "backyards" of those factories complete with those pipes where all sorts of waste material routinely come out. Of course we all know where those garbage go.
