Sensing, Knowing, and Making Water Quality along Marikina River in the Philippines

• Main Authors: Lasco, Gideon, Hardon, Anita
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2024
• Subjects: environmental anthropology; Philippines; water governance; water insecurity; Water quality; Anthropology; Environmental Studies; Social and Behavioral Sciences; Sociology
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/dev-stud-faculty-pubs/250; https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/dev-stud-faculty-pubs/article/1250/viewcontent/Sensing__knowing__and_making_water_quality_along_Marikina_River_in_the_Philippines.pdf
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

Water quality is a major concern around the world, but assessments of quality often privilege producers, regulators and experts over consumers. With water supplies and sources constantly in flux, how do ordinary people experience and “sense” quality? How do they define “good” or “good enough” water, and what practices do they engage in to “make” good water? In this article, we attend to these questions by presenting findings from an open-ended qualitative study carried out along the Marikina River, Manila, the Philippines – a waterway that courses from rural and mountainous villages to highly urbanized communities. First, we describe the sensorial and cognitive attributes that people associate with the different water sources in their environment, as well as their decision-making regarding what kind of water to use for which purposes. Second, we present the “making” of water quality: how, in a context of polluted environments and water scarcity, do people try to secure water they consider acceptable for themselves and their families. Our findings reveal water quality as a contested, relational domain—one that reinforces social and health disparities and calls for further scholarship. Abstract (Tagalog) Ang kalidad ng tubig ay kinababahala sa buong mundo, ngunit ang pagkilatis ng kalidad na ito ay kadalasang nasa kamay ng mga kompanya ng tubig, mga dalubhasa, at gobyerno, - wala sa mga tao. Sa kabila ng mga pagbabago at pangamba ukol są tubig, paano nga ba nararanasan ất nararamdaman ng mga ordinaryong tao ang kalidad ng tubig? Paano nila nasasabi na maganda, o puwede na, ang isang klase ng tubig, at anong mga pamamaraan o diskarte ang ginagawa nila para maging ‘puwede na’ ito? Sa artikulong ito, tinatalakay namin ang mga katanungang ito base sa isang qualitative research na isinagawa namin sa mga bayan sa kahabaan ng Ilog Marikina, na dumadaloy mula sa bulubunduking kanayunan ng Sierra Madre hanggang sa mga urbanisadong pamayanan ng Kamaynilaan. Una, inilalarawan namin ang mga katangian na inuugnay ng mga tao sa iba’t ibang uri ng tubig sa kanilang kapaligiran, at kung paano sila nagdedesisyon kung alin sa mga ito ang gagamitin sa iba’t ibang paggagamitan. Pangalawa, ipinapakita namin kung paano nila ginagawang ‘puwede na’ ang tubig para sa kanila at kanilang mga pamilya. Sa kabuuan, napag-alaman namin na ang kalidad ng tubig ay isang komplikadong larangan, nakaugat sa iba’t ibang relasyon, nakapagpapalala sa mga hindi pagkakapantay-pantay ng lipunan, at nananawagan ng mas malalamin na pag-aaral.