Abra lone district Rep. JB Bernos is seeking the creation of the Abra River Basin Development Authority (ARBDA) in a bid to save the save critical waterway from further degradation.

Bernos filed for this purpose House Bill (HB) No. 3119, as he cited the need to protect the Abra River, which suffered pollution due to haphazard development over the years.

In particular, the solon blamed uncontrolled industrialization, forest denudation, mining, and rapid population growth for the river’s worsening conditions.

“Through this bill, we will save the Northern Philippines’ most important water network by regulating commercial and residential activities affecting the Abra River," Bernos said in the bill’s explanatory note.

The lawmaker pointed out that the ARBDA "will help ensure that the discharges do not exceed the allowable established limits for the river’s natural waste assimilation capacity".

“Ditoy Amianan ti balaytayo. (The North is our home.) If we cannot protect the Abra River, we fail not only our environment but also the families in the North whose lives and livelihoods are tied to its waters," Bernos said.

"We have to protect the Abra River for the present and for future generations," he underscored.

He noted that as early as 2005, chemical analysis of the river conducted by the St. Louis University showed that its water had already reached dangerously high levels of hazardous substancers.

He added that poor drainage and lack of comprehensive flood control systems have caused widespread flooding in communities and farmlands and paralyzed the local economy.

Under the bill, the ARBDA will craft a 25-year Abra River Rehabilitation Roadmap and Master Plan to ensure that various stakeholders are guided in all sorts of developments while still maintaining the livability of the nearby communities.

The ARBDA will also work closely with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Public Works and Highways, Department of Agriculture, National Irrigation Administration, and the Abra provincial government in providing adequate, dependable, and reliable wastewater treatment facilities and sewerage systems in all their authorized service areas.

It will also periodically conduct comprehensive scientific surveys, studies, field sampling and laboratory testing, and GIS-mapping of the Abra River Basin System. This will monitor, evaluate, update, and analyze the physical, biological, chemical, hydrologic, bathymetric and hydrographic characteristics or the river; including the socio-economic profile of the stakeholders, trade, industrial and commercial profile; biometric tagging and identification of informal settlers, parcellary land use and zoning aspects, mapping of critical effluent discharge areas, and historical and tourism elements, among others.