River rehab dredging kicks off in Davao de Oro, Philippines

The Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has commenced rehabilitation dredging of the Naboc River in Davao de Oro province.

The goal of the dredging is to aid in cleaning a nearly 10-kilometre portion of the 24-kilometre river, which had become heavily polluted with mercury, cyanide, and faecal coliform due to ore processing activities at a nearby facility.

The dredging will be done in phases, with contractors working successively on a series of nine quarry blocks each measuring one kilometre long, 40 metres wide, and two metres deep until the whole 10-kilometre stretch is covered.

The DENR said the dredging was originally scheduled to begin in 2020 but was postponed for several months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.