The Bugang River is a river situated in the northwest of

Panay Panay is the sixth-largest and fourth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of and has a total population of 4,542,926 as of 2020 census. Panay comprises 4.4 percent of the entire population of the country. The City o ...

island in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. It is located in municipality of Pandan, Antique which is noted for its distinction as the "Cleanest Inland Body of Water" in the country.

Topography

The Bugang River entirely traverses Pandan town of Antique province. It has a length of Its headspring is deep. The river originates from around the area of the Northwest Panay Peninsula Natural Park From upstream to Pandan Bay where it converges, the Bugang flows along the barangays Candari, Santo Rosario, Guia, Zaldivar and Mag-aba. During the

summer season Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset occurs, daylight hours are longest and dark hours are shortest, with ...

, water levels of the river temporarily decreases.

Fauna

Thirty-eight species of fish belonging to 30

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

and 20 families were recorded in a November 2013 to March 2014 survey of the Bugang River. ''

Eleotridae Eleotridae is a family of fish commonly known as sleeper gobies, with about 34 genera and 180 species. Most species are found in the tropical Indo-Pacific region, but there are also species in subtropical and temperate regions, warmer parts of th ...

'' is the most dominant family with six species while '' Gobiidae'' is the second most dominant with four species.

Tourism

The river serves as a primary tourist destination of the town of Pandan, Antique. The Malumpati Cold Spring Resort, which is situated in the upper portions of the river near the headspring is the main tourist destination of Pandan town.

Environmental conservation

Efforts to keep the river clean despite exploiting it for tourism has received recognition in both the national and international level. The river received a Hall of Fame award as part of the national government's Cleanest Inland Body of Water competition. The United Kingdom-based The Green Organization recognized the Bugang Community-Based Eco-Tourism Organization (BCBTO) at the Green Environment Apple Awards in 2006 for their campaign to preserve the river. The BCBTO conducts information drives regarding the river's preservation as well as monthly cleanups of the river. The organization also campaigned for the prohibition of maintaining pigpens along the riverside and swimming at the river's headspring. The 16th Congress of the Philippine Senate commended the local government and community of Pandan in a September 2014 resolution for their conservation efforts which made the river the "Cleanest Inland Body of Water" in the country and cited their case a successful model for community-based ecotourism.

References

Rivers of the Philippines Landforms of Antique (province) {{WVisayas-geo-stub