World Water Day

Marikina City, Philippines_ The annual observance of the International World Water Day on March 22 since 1993 was declared by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). On this day the UN and its member nations promote concrete activities to focus the public’s attention on critical water issues affecting their everyday lives. This year is highlighted by the theme “Water and Food Security” that aims to advocate the importance of freshwater and sustainable management of freshwater resources.

In the observance of World Water Day, Greenpeace launched its campaign highlighting the importance of protecting our freshwater tributaries from toxic substances and revealed in the Greenpeace report called,
Dirty Laundry: Reloaded. Launched today at the banks of the Marikina River with volunteer activist demonstrating how toxic chemicals in laundry water leach from consumer garments producers a day ahead of  World Water Day.

The Greenpeace study measures for the first time the percentage of the hazardous chemicals nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs) washed out during simulated standard domestic laundering conditions. The results show
that consumer brands, such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein, are unknowingly polluting the public water supplies in regions and countries around the world, including those where there
are restrictions or bans on the use of these chemicals.

“While other countries try to improve measures protecting their citizens from hazardous chemicals, the Philippines is even steps behind in terms of regulations on hazardous chemicals. Nonylphenols, for example, are banned in Europe for their endocrine-disrupting properties, and yet it is not even included in the Priority Chemicals List in the Philippines,” said Beau Baconguis, Greenpeace Southeast Asia’s Toxics Campaigner.

“Filipinos are, thus, doubly vulnerable to toxic discharges, both from manufacturing processes and from consumer end-products. This is the reason why we are calling for the institution of a mechanism respecting the public right-to-know about toxic discharges, such as a Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (PRTR), and for the textile industry to lead the move to safe alternatives to toxic chemicals,” Baconguis added.