The Santa Cruz River ( tl, Ilog ng Santa Cruz) is a river system in

Santa Cruz, Laguna Santa Cruz, officially the Municipality of Santa Cruz ( tgl, Bayan ng Santa Cruz), is a first class municipality of the Philippines, municipality and capital of the Philippine Province, province of Laguna (province), Laguna, Philippines. Accor ...

, on the island of

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

, 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 one of 21

tributaries A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage b ...

Laguna de Bay Laguna de Bay (Spanish language, Spanish for "Lagoon/Lake of Bay, Laguna, Bay"; tl, Lawa ng Bay, ), also known as Laguna Lake, is the List of lakes of the Philippines, largest lake in the Philippines. It is located southeast of Metro Manila, b ...

, contributing about 15% of the total water in the lake. It is thus regularly monitored by the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) through one of its 15 river monitoring stations.

Conservation

In the latest (December 2005 ) Water Quality Status Report listed on the Laguna Lake Development Authority's site, the Santa Cruz River was listed as Class D, with high total coliform concentration. According to the Water Usage & Classification for Fresh Water system used by the Philippines' Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Class D Quality freshwater is suitable for agriculture, irrigation, livestock watering and industrial water supply class II. It also indicated that this status had been "maintained" since the river was last monitored.

Agricultural Use

Its waters are a source of irrigation water for of ricefields in

Pila Pila may refer to: Architecture * Pila (architecture), a type of veranda in Sri Lankan farm houses Places *Pila, Buenos Aires, a town in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina *Pila Partido, a country subdivision in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina * ...

, Santa Cruz,

Liliw Liliw, officially the Municipality of Liliw ( tgl, Bayan ng Liliw), is a 4th class municipality in the province of Laguna, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 39,491 people. It is one of the highland towns forming ...

, Victoria and

Nagcarlan Nagcarlan, officially the Municipality of Nagcarlan ( tgl, Bayan ng Nagcarlan), is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Laguna, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 64,866 people. It is northeast of San P ...

towns. The provincial capital of Laguna Province was put up on the banks of this river. On September 28, 2006,

Typhoon Xangsane Typhoon Xangsane, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Milenyo, was a typhoon that affected the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand during the 2006 Pacific typhoon season. The name Xangsane was submitted by Laos and means elephant. Xangsane made l ...

(

PAGASA Pagasa may refer to: * ''Pagasa'' (genus), an insect genus in the family Nabidae *PAGASA, an acronym for the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration *"May Pagasa", a pen-name of José Rizal *Pagasa, alternate s ...

name Typhoon ''Milenyo'') caused the destruction of the Calumpang Diversion Dam in the Municipality of

, which channeled water to irrigation canals around the area. The dam was built in the 1970s. The livelihood of more than 2,300 farmers in five Laguna towns was put at risk. The storm was only the immediate cause of the damage, with continuous quarrying along the Santa Cruz River cited as the primary cause. The National Irrigation Administration (NIA) said that while the quarry operations were located beyond the dam's radius, the continuous collection of rocks in the lower portion of the area caused erosion in the riverbed. The NIA noted that a survey they conducted before the typhoon showed that the riverbed had dropped by because of erosion. They also estimated that the construction of a new dam would take 11 months to two years to build a new dam depending on the availability of funds. This meant that our farmers might not be able to plant rice for two years prior to the rehabilitation of the dam.

References

Rivers of the Philippines Tributaries of Laguna de Bay Landforms of Laguna (province) {{Philippines-river-stub

Conservation

Agricultural Use

See also

References