Two Iloilo towns get groundwater monitoring systems

By Carlson B. Alelis

The towns of Pavia and San Miguel, Iloilo now have groundwater monitoring systems after telemetry sensors were officially turned over during a ceremony held at Pavia National High School, January 27.

The said school, along with Pagsanga-an Elementary School, also in Pavia town, and barangays Consolacion and San Jose in San Miguel town, may now monitor water level and its quality through these systems.

According to Department of Science and Technology (DOST) secretary Fortunato Dela Peña, the initiative serves as the first step to effectively assess, conserve, manage, and monitor groundwater resources.

“Through this telemetric equipment and sensors, we can do data logging, which can then be accessible through a mobile application,” he said.

The system can measure the static water level in terms of quantity, and the quality of power of hydrogen, temperature, and electrical conductivity.

According to Dela Peña, the project is a convergence of different initiatives.

Meanwhile, Director Sevillo David of the National Water Resources Board (NWRB), said groundwater is a “blind resource,” since it is hard to track, which is why monitoring systems are in place.

“So what we did is to know more of the blind resource which we set up in strategic locations,” he said.

He said that there is a need to “manage these precious resources because as you develop and increase in population, the demand for water is also increasing.”

Jose Claro Monje of the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) Electronics Computer and Communications Engineering Department said real-time information can be accessed online, with separate websites for the public and for those who are interested to gather data for projects.

ADMU heads the project titled, “Installation of Telemetry Sensors to Monitor Water Quality and Water Levels in 22 Wells.”

The project is in collaboration with and funded by the NWRB and DOST – Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD), classified under the Climate Change Infrastructure Initiative Program of the latter.

The Philippine Groundwater Outlook (PhiGO), on the other hand, is a three-year collaborative project led by Andrew Barkwith from the British Geological Survey and Ma. Aileen Leah Guzman of ADMU.

PhiGO aims to deliver, accessible, and transferable accessible assessments of climate and population change on regional groundwater resources. (PIA-6)