IMSWES
The Integrated Manila Bay-Laguna Lake and 
Surrounding Watersheds  Environmental Study

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The Project

The Study Area

The People

Activities

   

Links and Resources 

Contact Us

PROF KAZUO NADAOKA
nadaoka@mei.titech.ac.jp

DR. GUILLERMO TABIOS III
gtabios@engg.upd.edu.ph

IMSWES Project - The Study Area

Manila Bay and Laguna Lake - A Primer

 

  MANILA BAY

        The Manila Bay/Laguna Lake System is important since it is within the vicinity of Metro Manila and Regions III and IV, areas considered  economically, politically and demographically active. In these regions, the consequent environmental problems have fostered continuing debate on how to resolve conflicting issues and concerns in natural resource management. Another advantage and convenience in studying this system is the fact that it has the greatest amount of physical, biological and environmental information available compared to other similar water bodies in the Philippines

      Manila Bay has many uses such as marine fisheries, aquaculture or fishponds, ports and navigation waterways, resorts and recreational sites, and the habitats of diverse natural aquatic life.

       The southern part of Manila Bay opens to the South China Sea, while its northern end is fed by the lahar sediment-laden freshwater discharges from the Pasac Delta, and the flow discharges from the Pampanga River Basin which is the largest tributary basin. Its western side receives discharges from the watersheds of Bataan and eastern side is the combination of rural and urban river flows from the coastal towns of Bulacan and Cavite provinces as well as and the more polluted runoff from the Metro Manila rivers, including the Pasig River which is the outlet of Laguna Lake. 

LAGUNA LAKE

       Laguna Lake  is a large inland body which interacts with Manila Bay through Pasig River and receives significant freshwater inflows of varying water quality from the urban and rural watersheds of the surrounding towns. Laguna Lake is a multi-purpose water resource system for fisheries, flood control, hydropower generation with the Caliraya pumped-storage system, navigation and transport as well as water source of domestic water supply and irrigation.

 

Satellite images from CRISP (http://www.crisp.nus.edu.sg)