I am inspired to write this column to show how the City Government of Bayawan and Silliman University became partners for sharing resources and expertise to enhance academic learning, and to keep a quality environment.
The partnership between Silliman University and Bayawan City started in 2010 with a Memorandum of Agreement.
Through the service-learning program of Silliman, the students who are majors in biology, chemistry, sociology and anthropology along with their professors monitor the quality of treated wastewater from the constructed wetland.
They also investigate the impact of the facilities of its Waste Management and Ecology Center to the water supply and health conditions of nearby community.
In exchange for the services of students, the City Government provides them free transportation, meals and accommodation during the period they collect and process water samples and other related data on site.
The first constructed wetland, located in the Gawad Kalinga Village, was built by the City Government in 2005.
The GK Village is a low-cost housing project in Barangay Villareal for resettled shoreline households affected by the construction of the Bayawan Boulevard–a road project that will ease the anticipated traffic problem of the city in the future.
The GK Village has a centralized septic tank connected to the constructed wetland planted with reeds locally called tambo. The roots of these plants serve as biofilters of wastewater to reduce or eliminate its E. coli content that can cause diseases to humans.
In 2006, Bayawan City received the national Galing Pook Award for this innovative way of treating wastewater being implemented by an LGU.
Meanwhile, the WMEC was built in 2008 in Sitio Omod in Maninihon, an upland barangay and about 20-minute drive from the city proper.
It occupies an area of about 21 hectares composed of a central material recovery facility, a composting facility, and a treatment facility for sludge from septic tanks of houses and establishments in the city.
Envisioned and initiated by late Mayor German Saraña and sustained by his successors–Mayors Rene Gaudiel and Ismael Martinez–the operation of the City’s integrated waste management system shows positive results.
In 2008, Silliman biologist Dr. Robert Guino-o II investigated the technical efficiency of the constructed wetland in collaboration with the past city’s pollution officer Engr. Antonio Aguilar Jr.
I also did a study on social acceptability of the facility, and published an interdisciplinary article with the Silliman Journal (Vol. 50, no. 1, 2009).
The constructed wetland is technically- efficient and socially- acceptable which proves its being a worthy project to address future water scarcity problem due to climate change.
The wetland has significantly reduced the E. coli content of treated wastewater although this is not yet totally fit for human consumption.
The monitoring in the succeeding years done by Dr. Guino-o with his students showed the same favorable results.
The shallow wells surrounding the WMEC likewise tested low in coliform and other physico-chemical characteristics being examined.
These are reinforced by the findings of Silliman chemist Dr. Paulina Aspilla who is also involved in the monitoring project with her students.
But there is much to be done yet to attain an E. coli count of 20-50 cfu/100ml. to declare potable the treated wastewater.
In the latest report to the Pollution and Waste Management Board of Bayawan City, Dr. Guino-o said the untreated wastewater directly taken from the septic tank has counts of >3,000,000 cfu/100ml while the treated wastewater has an average of 790,000 cfu/100ml.
In the meantime, being not yet perfectly safe for human consumption, the treated wastewater is used for firefighting and watering flower-bearing garden plants in public places.
The GK residents are discouraged to use this for watering leafy and fruit bearing vegetables to prevent contamination.
Instead, they get water from dug wells nearby their flower and vegetable gardens.
The operation of WMEC also produces vermicompost being fed by biodegradable wastes, including those from septic tanks.
But the vermicompost is not also publicly distributed until this is proven safe for application to vegetables due to its coliform content.
Dr. Guinoo is currently conducting an experiment toward this end.
Indeed, the partnership with the city government of Bayawan has provided Silliman a learning site for its students.
The students easily appreciate the value of the laboratory and research skills they learned from the benefits that their works have contributed to improving the quality of the environment.
More importantly, the students see for real what the City government is actually doing to arrest community problems related to the environment and health.
This enhances the realization of students of some personal and social values in working with others, particularly their classmates and professors, which the classroom setting cannot substantially provide.
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Author’s email: [email protected]
