Pasig River

The catchment area of the Pasig

The Pasig in Manila

Template: Infobox River / Obsolete

The Pasig is a Philippine river on Luzon. He is an outflow of Laguna de Bay, the largest lake in the Philippines, and is also fed by two other tributaries: the Marikina River and the San Juan River. With a length of only 25 kilometers of Pasig lies completely within the boundaries of Metro Manila, which he divides into two halves. It is spanned by a total of 13 bridges and eventually empties into Manila Bay.

In times of heavy rainfall the Pasig is prone to flooding. Here, especially the inflow of water from the Marikina River system plays a major role. To mitigate this situation, the Manggahan Floodway was built in 1986. This artificial channel derives a portion of the water from the Marikina river system in the Laguna de Bay, take them directly supplied to the Pasig.

Since the times of the Spanish colonization of the river was an important transportation route. With increasing urbanization of the area but also increased the pollution. Already in the 1930s it was observed that migratory schools of fish from Laguna de Bay declined. From the 1960s, then the residents the river water could no longer use for washing and finally in the 1980s, the fishing on the river was impossible because of the strong contamination. Since the 1990s, the Pasig is called due to heavy pollution by ecologists as biologically "dead". In 1999, then-President Joseph Estrada signed the Decree No 54 establishing the PRRC ( Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission ). The purpose of this Commission is to reduce the pollution of the Pasig and revive him.