GOOD news to visitors coming to Dagupan on May 1 for the Pista’y Dayat (Sea Festival) celebration.

The National Integrated Fisheries Technology Development Center (NIFTDC) here has confirmed that the Bonuan Blue Beach, a favorite destination of summer swimmers, especially on May 1 or labor Day celebration, is free from pollution and or contamination.

This was based on the result of the water sampling conducted this April by NIFTDC from three areas of the beach which were all found to have met the standard of water for beach front.

Evelyn Dangla, chief of the microbiology section of NIFTDC, certified that the result of water sampling showed that the water in the beach is much below the limit of 1,000 Total Coliform Most Probable Number (MPN) and 200 Fecal Coliform MPN.

The water samples were obtained at the back of the city’s dumpsite, the Japanese Garden as well as the Area Vocational Rehabilitation Center (AVRC) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Water samples at the back of the dumpsite was rated at 9.1 MPN while it is 93 MPN at the back of the Japanese Garden and 3.6 MPN at the back of AVRC.

These all indicate that the water of the Bonuan Blue Beach is ideal for swimming, Danglo said.
She said the water samples were obtained from three different sites with the help of students from various schools who underwent On-the-Job training with NIFTDC.

The findings of NIFTDC would be a big boon to the tourism industry in the city whose Bonuan Blue Beach is being mobbed by tens of thousands of beachcombers from nearly all parts of Luzon every May 1.

Dangla, said that the findings may vary during the rainy season where the Lingayen Gulf—by that time – may carry additional loads, such as debris and other solid matters from the upland.