El Salvador’s environment ministry (Marn) will create a special committee to monitor contamination in rivers, an official from the ministry told BNamericas.

In addition to monitoring pollution levels, the committee will carry out different projects to clean up these water sources throughout the country, the official said.

El Salvador’s rivers are highly contaminated, according to a study recently published by Marn which examined water quality from 125 points in 55 rivers.

None of the rivers in the study has high-quality water, while 60% have regular water quality. The water in 31% of the rivers is of poor quality, and the remaining were qualified as having deplorable water quality, according to the study.

The rivers with the worst water quality are: the Acelhuate river, the middle section of the Sucio river, the upper Suquiapa river, the lower San José de Metapán river and the middle part of the Grande de San Miguel river.

The classification of quality takes into consideration the use that will be given to the water, the official said, adding that some of the parameters include whether the water can be used as potable water, for irrigation or for recreational activities.

Of the total number of rivers studied, water in 11% can be treated for human consumption, 12% of the rivers can be used for irrigation and only 3% for recreational activities.

“We also make a general evaluation of the water quality in the rivers. This evaluation allows us to determine the river’s overall level of contamination,” the official added.

The study only looked at contamination from natural sources, for example the amount of domestic wastewater in the rivers. Marn experts did not evaluate industrial pollution, for example, the official said. However, Marn has developed and plans to carry out additional studies to evaluate other types of pollution sources, the official added.

Marn has been studying water quality in rivers since 2002.

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