Complementarity of sensor-based measurements and community perception for monitoring and management of seawater quality

• Main Authors: Paringit, Maria Cecilia Rubio, Nadaoka, Kazuo, Pokavanich, Tanuspong, Iizuka, Hiroyasu, Blanco, Ariel C., Paringit, Enrico C.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2006
• Subjects: Water quality—Philippines—Puerto Galera—Measurement; Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/13539
• Institution: De La Salle University

Puerto Galera, endowed with rich and diverse marine resources, is a popular tourist spot in the Philippines. However, its bays are vulnerable to gradual seawater quality degradation. The aims of this research are to relate the impact of human activities in some tourism areas to seawater quality and to show that integrated socio-environmental approach can emphasize the community's role in water quality improvement efforts. The socio-environmental monitoring was performed in three tourism sites in Puerto Galera, namely: Muelle, White Beach and Sabang to assess the impact of human activities to seawater quality. Physical monitoring includes water quality measurements by vertical profiling STD-type sensors along the shorelines of these sites. Social monitoring includes information of the behavior, perception and level of environmental awareness of the community obtained through interview surveys. Comparison revealed positive agreement between the community's perception on water quality and those of the sensor-based measurements. The resulting correlation also reflects different level of environmental awareness among communities. Further, results indicate that communities may have the inherent capacity to perform water quality monitoring. Communities with the highest level of awareness possess improved sanitation practices and hence good seawater quality.