Impact of Hot Spring Resort Development on the Groundwater Discharge in the Southeast Part of Laguna De Bay, Luzon, Philippines

Abstract:

Direct groundwater seepage in a lake (DGSL) can be a major component to its water and nutrient budget. Groundwater extraction around a lake may affect the DGSL, thus it can be expected that it would also impact the lake. In the Philippines, Laguna de Bay which is the second largest freshwater lake in South-east Asia and used primarily for fisheries, is under significant water development pressure. Along the southern coast of the lake, in the Calamba-Los Banos area, rapid urbanization and development of the water resort industry, including hot spring spas, are expected to have led to a rapid increase in groundwater extraction. This study aims to establish the effect of this development to the DGSL in this part of the lake. As a first step, we utilized towed electrical resistivity (ER) profiling to identify and map the potential and type of groundwater seepage off the southern coast of the lake. SRTM digital elevation models and synthetic aperture radar images were used to delineate lineaments which are potential fractures that cut across the study area. ER profiles indicate widespread occurrence of GDL across the shallower parts of the lake. In the more offshore, deeper parts of the lake, DGSL appears to be more limited possibly due to more muddy sediments there. However, in this area, narrow, vertical high resistivity columns cut through the lake floor suggesting more discrete GDLs possibly controlled by faults.