Central Visayas tourist spots suffer high coliform levels

The Regional Development Council in Central Visayas appealed to the local government to take action in some top tourist spots that have poor water quality or unfit for swimming as three sites in the region was discovered to have high levels of fecal coliform.

According to the data presented by the Environmental Management Bureau, the areas are the East Coast of Mactan island, the coasts of Moalboal town and Panglao island in Bohol, which the agency said that the areas surpassed the safe threshold.

Fecal coliform is a type of bacteria usually found in untreated sewage.

A body of water is safe for leisure activities like swimming when fecal coliform levels do not go beyond 100 most probable number per 100 milliliter, and the RDC-7 recommended local governments to form action plans to lessen the presence of coliform in the three areas.

The east coast of Mactan island had fecal coliform presence at 452 MPN/ 100 ml; 275 MPN/ 100ml in Moalboal, and 322 MPN/ 100ml in Panglao.

Thousands of visitors flock these three areas especially during summer season.