We’ll test carabaos and fish, too,” he said.

The water utility official added the testing is part of the feasibility study on the planned 200,000-cubic meter impounding dam at Parang-parang creek.

Ensomo said Surigao river is being tapped as one of the possible water source for the increasing water consumers in the city.

Last February, the water utility conducted a soil testing in three sites around the Parang-parang watershed area. These are in Sitio Pile (upstream and downstream) and Sitio Hubasan, all in Barangay Mat-i.

The samples were then brought to the San Carlos University in Cebu City for analysis. According to Dr. Danilo T. Jaque, the resident hydrologist of the university, the samples showed that these were “extremely dangerous” to public health as mercury levels were found to be “almost 1,000 times higher than the Philippine National Standard of Drinking Water (PNSD) values.”

Further, he noted that although mercury was found in the soil samples, and not the water sample, he warned that “when the soil is agitated during floods, these mercury could enter into the water supply system.”

The report apparently sent an alarm to the provincial government of Surigao del Norte, which is behind the proposed “Minahang Bayan” (or people’s small-scale mining site) in the area now being protested by the water district.

The provincial government, together with concerned government line agencies, conducted a separate water and soil sample in Brgy. Mat-i early last March.

The samples were brought to a laboratory in Davao City for analysis at a laboratory in Davao City.