SWIMMING.. IN WORLD'S MOST POLLUTED RIVER

Sunday Mirror, Jun 3, 2007 by SARAH ARNOLD

SURROUNDED by stinking sewage and a dirty rainbow of litter, a small boy and his friend splash around in their watery "playground".

The children whoop and shout as they swim among the rotting rubbish in the world's most polluted river system.

Their "toys" are discarded flip-flops, plastic bags and food cartons as they risk contracting typhoid, hepatitis and dysentery. The only other sound on this rancid stretch of the Wawa River, in the Philippines, is the constant hum as flies feed on the decomposing debris.

All the fish and plants are dead - unable to survive in the murky water as it chokes under the volume of waste.

It's even worse a few miles south in the capital Manila and its outlying area where 12million people live. There is so much garbage clogging the five big rivers here that people can "walk on water".

These rivers and the Wawa - "dead" in ecological terms because they can't support aquatic life - flow into the foul waters of Manila Bay, once one of the most beautiful in the world.

Now Greenpeace want to stem the trail of toxic sludge that kills everything in its path in this area of South-East Asia.

Spokesman Beau Baconguis said: "Sadly the Philippines is drowning in its own waste. It is an ecological disaster. These rivers are the most polluted in the world - it's a terrible legacy we are determined to stop before it's too late.

"In the shanty towns there is limited space and the children don't have places to play. So the river - even if it's dirty - becomes their playground. And much of the garbage is from 'single use' sources - plastic bags, drinks bottles or cups used once and thrown away."

Campaigner Mike Alquinto, 40, from Manila, said: "The children have no idea of the dangers. On a hot day, they run to a bridge and jump into the river again and again. Each time they have to cross the rubbish as they return to the bridge.

"I have a eight-year-old boy and as a father I'm very sad to see children swimming in such water."

Shanty towns line the Wawa, 10km from Manila. Up to three families cram into each of the tiny bamboo shacks. Few of the huts have toilets, and the sewage and rubbish are thrown into the water to be washed downstream.

Mike said: "The current carries the garbage to the banks, where there is a terrible stench. It's the flotsam of people's lives destroying the river. Fishermen still dock their boats on its banks but no one can fish there any more."

Eco-group Sagip Pasig says 50 of the Philippines' 421 rivers are in a critical condition - and half of these are classed as dead. Every year they name and shame the top 10 industries polluting the water.

With Greenpeace, they are part of the Eco-Waste Coalition, who work to enforce recycling laws. A clean-up blitz has begun in the main Pasig River and some villages are now recycling.

Sagip Pasig's Meth Jimenez said: "There is still time to save rivers like the Wawa, if we act now. I hope one day we can see our children swimming in clean water. We can't afford to fail."

sarah.arnold@sundaymirror.co.uk