PhiGO, a website for groundwater monitoring in Pampanga and Iloilo City to be featured in the 6th National R&D Conference
The quality of surface water in rivers, lakes, and oceans may be easy to see. But for the waters that are way deep in the ground under our feet, not very much.
To monitor the dynamics of groundwater in Pampanga and Iloilo City, a website called Philippine Groundwater Outlook (PhiGO) was developed and launched by researchers from the Ateneo de Manila University and the British Geographical Survey (BGS).
The PhiGo website allows stakeholders, general public, and local government units to get real-time information based on groundwater monitoring systems. Information from these systems can help generate models that would describe the groundwater dynamics, and give long-term forecast on its quality and quantity.
For example, the PhiGO website can report the static water level or the water level in the monitoring well under undisturbed and no pumping conditions. Basically, it says how much water is present in the well. By looking at various data of static water level, one can see if a water crisis is about to come, thus providing an opportunity to make solutions or policies ahead of time.
According to PHiGO, Pampanga and Iloilo City are two of the nine highly urbanized areas in the country with groundwater level criticalities. This means that these areas could deplete their groundwater or erode its quality in the coming years.
These two areas were identified by a previous study conducted by the National Water Resources Board and Japan International Cooperation Agency.
The PhiGo website is only one of the outputs of the three-year collaborative project between Ateneo's Dr. Ma. Aileen Leah G. Guzman and Dr. Andrew Barkwith of BGS. They have also launched groundwater monitoring systems that will put relevant data on the PhiGo website. Their team also generated models on groundwater recharge and other factors involved in the water quality.
The project is jointly funded by the Department of Science and Technology - Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development, and the Natural Environment Research Council of the United Kingdom.
Get to know more on this on the 6th National Research and Development Conference to be held on 10 and 17 November 2021. To know more details about this national event, visit https://nrdc.dost.gov.ph/ or email Natl_RD_Conference@dost.gov.ph. Also, you can follow the conference’s official Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/dostnrdc or Twitter account, https://twitter.com/nrdc_dost.
Screenshot of the PhiGO dashboard showing near real-time static water level in Pampanga based on a well located in Angeles Elementary School in Barangay Pulungbulu, Angeles City. Based on the dashboard, there are three other well sites in Pampanga.
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