The province of Bukidnon is the landlocked province in the Philippines located in the Northern Mindanao region.
The province is inhabited by 1.6 million people. Bukidnon is known as the watershed of Mindanao. It is endowed with six major river systems namely: Pulangi, Tagoloan, Cagayan, Manupali, Muleta, and Bobonawan Rivers. These rivers carved the landscape of the province creating numerous canyons.
Out of these estimated 1.6 million people, half rely on unimproved, unsafe and unsustainable water sources and lack access to improved sanitation. Families that have unsafe water near their homes often spend their time on collecting water far from their homes. As a major consumer of water, a need to secure and analysis to its water sources is essential. In the past, the municipality of Velencia City had experienced deforestation, flashflood, and drought prompting civil groups and activists to rally for environmental protection (Bautista, 2001) which were successful as measure of conservation efforts. However, small studies were conducted to evaluate present institutional arrangements for sustainable river water quality or watersheds. Filipinos consider water and sanitation access a matter of safety, pride, progress, and convenience, in addition to the health considerations (Water org,n.d.).
Water analysis identifies the problem and enables you to make knowledgeable decisions about water treatment. Water quality refers to bacteriological, chemical, physical, biological and radiological characteristics which indicate the condition and acceptability of water relative to its proposed or present use. Through water quality indicators, it can be gauged if water is appropriate for drinking or non- drinking purposes. (Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources). Lake apo is a crater lake in Barangay Guinoyoran in the city of Valencia in Bukidnon province in the Philippines.
It is located in a hilly area about 640 metres (2,100 ft) in elevation, about 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) WSW of the city poblacion (town center). Lake Apo was awarded the cleanest inland body of water in Northern Mindanao Region (Region X) in the late 1990s. This place is popular for its tons of activities, and the environment is wonderful. However, there are still numbers of people making a living in the place. Thus, this study was conducted to provide an analysis on the lake apo on Valencia City, Bukidnon.
The objectives were to determine selected physicochemical water quality parameters, determine its status with reference to standards, and to derive environmental risk assessment (e.g. risk quotient and river comparison). The study focuses on water quality parameters that were pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), oxidizing redox potential (ORP), turbidity, salinity, conductivity, total dissolved solids (TDS) using portable pre-calibrated meters. Nitrates were also determined using Bruccine colorimetric method. Analyzed heavy metals in total form were copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), and chromium (Cr) using Flame-Atomic absorption spectrophometry (AAS). Salinity, conductivity, and TDS showed positive correlation.
The study was preliminary and further monitoring may be needed. According to Ojo, O.,Bakare, S., and Babatunde, A. (n.d.). Microbial and Chemical analysis of potable water in public water supply within lagos university, OJO.
Their study concluded that the community is advised to boil the water before drinking it in order to avoid consumption of biological agents in the water distributions networks because there were detected possible that would cause diseases like dysentry, diarrhea and typhoid fever within the university population. Another study was conducted by Khalid, A., Malik, A., Waseem, A., Zahra, S., and Murtaza G. (2011) in the Pakistan and was entitled Qualitative and quantitative analysis of drinking water samples of different localities in Abbottabad district, Pakistan. They concluded that drinking water from different areas of Abbottabad district was not found to be suitable for human health due to microbiological issues. In the Philippines, there are only number of studies conducted specifically in the Mindanao Area. One study was conducted by Galarpe, V., Heyasa, K., and Heyasa B.
(2017). Their research is entitled Water quality and risk assessment of tributary rivers in San Fernando, Bukidnon, Philippines. They concluded that there is no potential pollution found on the river. Another study was conducted by Bertomen, W., Roa, E., Tubio, E., Vedra, S., and Pena, G. (2017).
Their research is entitled Water quality of Sawaga River, Malaybalay City, Bukidnon, Philippines. They concluded that the river is polluted and therefore it is not usable for consumption. This study is beneficial for the people living in Bukidnon especially the people living close in the lake, because it allows them to raise awareness on the quality of water when and not to use. This study can be also a tool for the realization of the general public especially to the mayor of Valencia city on its results.
And lastly, it is beneficial for the future researchers as this study can be an instrument to further develop and create new analysis on the quality of water in the province Bukidnon. Statement of the Problem: This study aims to determine the water quality of Lake Apo, Valencia City, Bukidnon, Philippines by determining the physicochemical parameters, it’s stauts with reference to standards of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for drinking water and to derive environmental risk assessments. Since the study focuses on the analysis of the water, the researchers faced certain questions that dictate the purpose of their study.
