Self-purification in tropical upland rivers as affected by environmental factors: the case of Balili River in Benguet, Philippines.

ABSTRACT

A major data gap in tropical river ecology is the limited documentation of natural water purification of upstream rivers. This study documented the improvement of water quality of downstream Balili River as affected by environmental factors and macrophyte diversity using a mixed-method approach (water quality assessment, plant inventory, field observation, canonical correspondence analysis, community interview). Results showed that the distance from pollution plays a significant role in the self-purification of the river while the floral diversity maintains the riparian from further contaminating the water and at the same time absorbing air pollutants. Generally, the pollution reduction and %change is exponential at 2 and 3 km from point source then taper at 4 and 5 km. At 3 km from the point source, 30% improvement in TDS, BOD and salinity, 25% for EC, 20% in TSS, 35% in WQI, 36% in CPI, and 50% for DO were noted. Key factors that influence the self-purification process in the river were distance from pollution source, elevation, human disturbance (as indicated by %tree canopy) and temperature. These findings highlight the importance of distance from pollution sources and floral diversity in driving water quality improvements, with implications for sustainable water resource management in tropical regions.

This study documented the improvement of water quality of downstream Balili River as affected by environmental factors and macrophyte diversity ­ as contribution to the major data gap in tropical river ecology which currently has limited documentation on natural water purification of upstream rivers. The study also shows the mosaic interplay of water quality, plant diversity, distance from pollution, human disturbance, and air quality in understudied tropical river. Further, this study is unique in documenting the downstream of Balili River since majority of the previous studies were concentrated in the upstream portion of the river.