Bulacan, DENR ink deal with Ecoshield

MANILA, Philippines - Bulacan Gov. Wilhelmino Sy Alvarado and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources have signed a memorandum of agreement with private developer Ecoshield Development Corp. for the dredging of the heavily silted and polluted Marilao-Meycauayan-Obando River System (MMORS) that would bring back the commercial viability of fishing in the province.

Under the agreement, the river will be dredged with the silt deposited in a planned 44-hectare sanitary landfill that Ecoshield is putting up as part of the government’s solid waste management initiative.

With the river coming back to life, Alvarado sees the return of commercial fishing in the MMORS, which for now is home to garbage and other pollutants that deprive the families in the area of their livelihood.

The dredging and the establishment of a sanitary landfill, the first in Central Luzon, is also seen to stem flooding in the area that has resulted in losses lose to lives and property in Bulacan.

Ecoshield has tapped the expertise of environmental engineers and specialists to design a receiving and processing facility for the garbage and contaminated mud deposits that would be dredged from the rivers. With a multi-barrier system, embankments and meticulously engineered high-density plastic layerings that would prevent the seepage of contaminated water to nearby communities, the landfill is tops in terms of environmental concerns.

In a meeting of the MMORS Water Quality Management Area, a coordinating body to encourage and guide the cleanup of the rivers, Alvarado and Environment Management Bureau director for Central Luzon Lormelyn Claudio expressed full support for the landfill project.

The cleanup operations involve the dredging of the clogged rivers, which the various towns along the waterways have been pursuing over the past few years with the support of the Department of Public Works and Highway.