The letter “E” of the word LOVE in the I LOVE DUMAGUETE platform of government and development agenda of #Kasaligan stands for Environment (Solid waste management, clean water and wastewater management, coastal and fisheries management, coastal tourism, urban forestry and watershed management must all be systematized). Let me mention only two programs: Wastewater management and solid waste management.
Sometime in 2004, when I was still Vice-Mayor and Team Leader of the Local Initiatives for Affordable Wastewater Treatment (LINAW) Project of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), local stakeholders were engaged in identifying the sources of water pollution and in developing both short-term and medium-term projects to address wastewater pollution using low-cost technologies.
After a series of consultations, the City adopted short-term and medium term plans. The short-term projects focused on the improvement of septic tanks in the city. On the other hand, medium-term projects focused on the construction of a citywide septage treatment plant for the liquid and solid materials pumped from a septic tank, and the creation of the Decentralized Wastewater Treatment System (DEWATS) for public market wastewater.
These short and medium-term projects have been effectively implemented through
1) The enactment of Resolution No. 367, s. 2004, which I authored, declaring the 3.7-ha. public land in Bgys. Candau-ay and Camanjac as Biological Septage Treatment Site,
2) The approval of an Ordinance (Ordinance No. 18, s. 2006) Establishing a Septage Management System in the City of Dumaguete (As USAID-Local Initiatives for Affordable Wastewater Project Team Leader, I drafted/formulated this ordinance, guiding the LINAW TWG in a series of workshops. The final draft was made the basis for the enactment of the City Septage Management Ordinance by the Sangguniang Panglungsod),
3) The construction of a Septage Management Facility in Bgy. Camanjac, and
4) The construction of the Decentralized Wastewater Treatment System for public market effluents at the Quezon Park.
The septage management system in Camanjac is an offsite treatment facility while the one at the Quezon Park is an onsite facility (unfortunately, this has not been continued by the present administration).
City Ordinance No. 18, s. 2006 mandates the establishment of a city-wide septage management system with provisions on the proper design, maintenance, regular desludging of septic tanks, and treatment of septage. It also provides for a “user fee” to recover capital and operating costs.
The septage treatment facility was constructed in 2008 and was completed in May 2010. Total capital and operation cost of the facility including the acquisition of 8 septage trucks was about P26 million. In this endeavor, the City government, in cooperation with DCWD, utilized their own funds to build and operate the 2-hectare offsite septage lagoons. The City contributed 50% of the total capital and operation cost while the DCWD contributed the remaining 50%. Operation started in May 2010.
The project, which aims to control the degradation of the city’s water resources by addressing the issues of contamination of groundwater and indiscriminate disposal of septage materials, was the first locally-initiated and funded city-wide septage management system in the Philippines which won the prestigious Galing-Pook Award in 2012.
On the other hand, the construction of the 3.0 million city-funded Decentralized Wastewater Treatment Plant for the City public market wastewater started on January 16, 2007 and operation of the plant began on June 20, 2007. The plant has the capacity to treat 80 cu. m. of wastewater discharged daily from the fish, fruits, vegetable and meat market, fish terminal, dry good stalls, restaurants/carenderia, and public market offices.
When I was City Agriculturist, I conceptualized and led the implementation of a pioneering Waste-to-Food program which facilitated the transformation of biodegradable wastes into organic fertilizers. The City’s waste management capacities have been enhanced with the use and conversion of biodegradable trash into plant nutrients, strengthening organic farming processes, resulting to various positive impacts on solid waste management efforts, thereby promoting organically-grown agricultural products.
The program has increased crop production of local farmers, helped decongest the dumpsite, producing carcinogenic-free farm products. It likewise accomplished the following:
– Regular collection of fruit and vegetable wastes from the City Public Market, the Pinili St. market vendors, and from the Paunay beside the Provincial Agriculturist’s Office.
– Collection of 400 kilos of unwanted hasang (fish gills) each day from the public market, to produce amino acids perceived to raise yield and quality of vegetable crops.
The organic fertilizers produced are being distributed for free to City farmers and to various public schools, an endeavor that provided subsidy for the cost of crop production.
It should be noted that wastes from fruits and vegetables are basically biodegradable and, when recycled, can be transformed into superior organic fertilizers that enhance soil fertility and productivity of various crops.
Through the application of biological enzymes at the Dumaguete dumpsite, the City has: a) Lessened the volume of garbage to 40 tons from 80 tons per day; b) Reduced the stench at the dumpsite in Candau-ay; c) Increased the production of organic fertilizer to 3,500 kilos per day (70 of 50-kilo bags); d) Continuously treated polluted leachate; e) Decongested the road along the Dumpsite, its road shoulders, and pathways from tons of garbage; f) Maintained a landscape of open spaces that are cleared from garbage.
There are still remaining solid and liquid waste management issues that will have to be addressed by the #Kasaligan platform of government and contribute to achieving the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. These are:
1. We shall look for a suitable site to implement final disposal of the wastes by sanitary methods and with minimum environmental impact. This is also in compliance with RA 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 which mandates LGUs all over the country to establish sanitary landfills.
– Since alliance building as regards clustering of municipalities for SLF construction and operation can result in economies of scale (World Bank/NEDA et al. 2007), there is a need for a cluster of LGUs to have common disposal facilities.
– Section 44 of RA 9003 provides that — Pursuant to Sec. 33 of R.A. 7160, otherwise known as the Local Government Code, all provinces cities, municipalities and barangays, through appropriate ordinances, are hereby mandated to consolidate, or coordinate their efforts, services, and resources for purposes of jointly addressing common solid waste management problems and/or establishing common waste disposal facilities.
2. We shall provide technical and financial assistance (including garbage trucks) in the establishment and operationalization of a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) within a barangay or cluster of barangays.
– The MRF shall receive recyclable waste for final sorting, segregation, composting, and recycling in an efficient and environmentally sound manner and to be sold in bulk to “junk shops”. The remaining residual wastes shall be collected by the City.
We shall protect the health of family members and avoid medical expenses, maintain hygiene and cleanliness, and protect our coastal areas, especially the boulevard as pride of the city and as our place for relaxation and family leisure.
1. We shall build low-cost, low-maintenance and efficient Wastewater Treatment Plant onsite for the public market’s untreated wastewater using the biological system or non-mechanized system of treatment. Mechanized system is energy dependent and expensive. Biological approach is less expensive, effective and efficient in cleaning up polluted effluents.
2. Encourage and provide incentives to business establishments and institutions setting up their own wastewater treatment system.
Suffice to say, that in this city, problems that affect our environment still pester us to no end. It is about time that we, the residents of Dumaguete, have to act as one. As we battle CoViD-19, let us also throw our petty differences and leave our bickering behind us. Let us stop patronizing ‘personality’ politics and begin to seriously think about the issues that confront us.
Let us choose wisely during the coming elections. If we choose wrongly, CoViD-19 may not kill us instead, we will all be ill with the disease called apathy. Once we are infected with this ailment, we are not the only ones who will die. Death will come to our children even before they have been born.
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Author’s email: [email protected]
