Preliminary Water and Sediment Quality Assessment of the Meycauayan River Segment of the Marilao-Meycauayan-Obando River System in Bulacan, the Philippines

The Meycauayan River is considered one of the most severely polluted rivers in the Philippines due to heavy metal and organic pollution that has caused environmental degradation. The aim of the present study was to provide insight on the current status of the Meycauayan River and outline an appropriate strategy to solve problems of organic and heavy metal contamination. The physical, chemical and biological characteristics of the water and sediments were analyzed and evaluated based on available local and international standards. Three sites (upstream, midstream and downstream) of the river were considered for the evaluation of water and sediment quality. Dissolved oxygen, measured in the morning, was very low at the upstream sampling station (1.87 ppm) and even lower at the downstream site (0.49 ppm). The temperature for the three sites ranged from 28.03°C (upstream) to 30.75°C (downstream). Visual inspection indicated that the color of the water was gray upstream and midstream, and black at the downstream station. Biochemical oxygen demand exceeded the recommended limits of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) of 7.0 ppm with values of 13.22 ppm (upstream) and 12.02 ppm (downstream). Chemical oxygen demand exceeded the limit of 20 ppm at the downstream site at 84 ppm. Dissolved oxygen did not reach the recommended limit of 5.0 ppm of the DENR. There was a high coliform count at both the upstream (3.5 × 104 colony-forming unit (cfu)/ml) and downstream (2.5 × 104) sites, which exceeded the limit of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) of 126 cfu/100 ml. Heavy metals such lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn) and chromium (Cr) exceeded the severe effect level of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which could be detrimental to humans and aquatic life. The results of one-way analysis of variance showed significant differences (p