Marikina River
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Marikina River (Tagalog: Ilog Marikina) is a main river system in Eastern Metro Manila. A river stretching from Rodriguez, Rizal to Pasig City that connects to Pasig River as major tributary near Napindan Area in Pasig City.
Marikina River used to be an important transport route during Spanish era. However, due to negligence and industrial development, the river has become very polluted. Also, squatters nearby simply dumped their garbage at the river. In the late 90's because of the dynamic transformation of Marikina City under Mayor Bayani Fernando the river has survived and now, one of the most important treasures in Marikina City.
The Marikina River flows in the center of Marikina Valley because of the mountain ranges of Sierra Madre on the east and Quezon City or Capitol Hills in Quezon City on the west. Marikina River is much known in Marikina City because the city itself maintain its rehabilitation of a river which is a good example in other cities not only in Metro Manila but in the Philippines for suviving neglected rivers and water systems. The river recognized as Hall of Famer for the Cleanest Inland Water in Metro Manila.
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[edit] The Marikina River system
Marikina River is considered to be at the heart of Marikina City. It intersects with Pasig River along the Manggahan Floodway. The Manggahan Floodway connects Pasig River and Marikina River with Laguna Lake. Its water flows from the higher up of the Marikina River going to the Manggahan Floodway then directly to the Laguna Lake It has 7 creeks and waterways connected to it. The river’s depth ranges from 3 – 21 meters and spans from 70 – 120 meters. It has a total area of nearly 75.2 hectares and is 11 kilometer long. The riverbank has an elevation of 8 meters above sea level at the boundary of San Mateo and Marikina. This slowly goes down at an elevation of 4 meters nearly before the Malanday and Sto. Nino boundary. The lowest elevation is along Calumpang which 2 meters above sea level. The river serves as the city’s major drainage system.[1]
[edit] Biology
Prior to the invasion of the Janitor fish the Marikina river used to be full of other species: tilapia, martiniko, ayungin and biya.
Since the late nineties the Marikina River is plagued by infestation of the so called "Janitor fish". There are two species of Janitor fish present in the Philippines; Pterygoplichthys pardalis and Pterygoplichthys disjunctivus found in the Marikina River and Lake Paitan in Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija[2]
A scientific study of the species found in five location in the Laguna de Bay tributary system, amongst them the Marikina River, revealed that the specimen of Janitor fish previously reported as Hypostomus plecostomus actually belong to the genus Pterygoplichthys, family Loricariidae. The collected specimen for this study consisted of two species; Pterygoplichthys disjunctivus and Pterygoplichthys pardalis. Boths pecies were collected from the Marikina River. Only the species disjunctivus was collected from Pasig River[3].
The city of Marikina has issued Ordinance 004, series of 2007 to: ORDINANCE LAUNCHING A JANITOR FISH ERADICATION DRIVE IN THE CITY OF MARIKINA, GRANTING CASH INCENTIVES TO PARTICIPANTS THEREFOR AND APPROPRIATING ANNUALLY THE AMOUNT OF FIFTY THOUSAND PESOS (P50,000.00) FOR THE PURPOSE[4]
