City Rivers

Rome (Italy) has river Tiber. Paris (France) has river Seine. London (England) has river Thames. Perth (Australia) has river Swan. Vancouver (Canada) has river Fraser. Lisbon (Portugal) has river Tagus. Cairo(Egypt) has river Nile. Baghdad (Iraq) has river Tigris. Hamburg (Germany) has river Elbe. Germany has the river Rhine as its longest river and has its source from the Swiss Alps. Berlin has river Spree. Vienna has river Danube. Almost all progressive and notable cities has a river in or near it. Rivers are great sources of livelihood and very convenient facilities for transport and other business activities. It is also a very good source of fresh water.

The river Tiber is the third longest river in Italy and flowing 406 kilometers. It drains a basin estimated at 18,000 km square. The river has achieved lasting fame as the main watercourse of the city of Rome, founded on its eastern banks.

The city of Manila is not an exception. It has river Pasig. I am sure in the early fifties and sixties, the river Pasig has been  a cause for progress for the city of Manila. Local and international cargo vessels can enter the city through the river Pasig. I am also sure that it is a place of recreation to many. I am very sure that it is a good source of fresh water for domestic and commercial.

While it is true that it is still very useful today as a facility for cargo vessels, it is not anymore a place for recreation, much more an easy source of usable water. The presence of many factories which are making the river their sewage catcher and the homeowners along it treating it as their toilet, garbage, etc., had made it very dirty. We have lost an important source of water. The benefits we get from these factories along its stretch are not the lost of the river. Lots of concerned  government officials and NGO's had conspired to rehabilitate it. One is in fact going on right now. But unless these factories would follow the law on how they must dispose their wastes, the river assistance made by government can not cope with the demand to process the wastes these factories and homeowners are dumping in the river.

Since the city rivers are crucial to the city, it follows that its condition and health determines the condition and health of the city! So, with the present situation of the river Pasig, no wonder, Manila is not in that very good condition. If the city id not in good condition, the people may not also be in good condition.