Landfill water discharge: Cebu City faces stiff sanctions

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City government will suffer a penalty of at least P10,000 a day starting April should it fail to improve the quality of water discharge at the Inayawan Sanitary Landfill.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources had given the city until March 31 to improve the landfill’s water discharge quality. 

The leachate produced by the landfill, when tested by the Pollution Control Division of the Environmental Management Bureau, did not pass the standard level of concentration of natural pollutants, thus, poses threat to the water supply, public health and ecological protection.

Based on the tests conducted, there is high biological oxygen demand in the wastewater produced by the landfill. High BOD indicates the presence of numerous bacteria working to decompose the organic waste in the water.

They used the BOD as measurement because more bacteria mean higher demand for oxygen as these bacteria need oxygen to decompose the organic wastes.

Research shows that if the BOD level is 6-9 parts per million (ppm), the quality of the water is already poor and somewhat polluted. If its BOD is 100 ppm or greater, the water is very polluted. The 3-5 ppm BOD level is considered fair.

The EMB has given the city government three months to improve the quality of wastewater produced by the Inayawan landfill, otherwise it will be penalized under Republic Act 9275 or the Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004.

Councilor Eduardo Rama, chairman of the City Council’s committee on public services, said they are working double time to install a wastewater treatment facility in Inayawan to address the problem.

If the city is not able to improve the quality of the discharge, it will have to pay at least P10,000 a day or a total of about P3.6 million a year for the penalty alone.

The leachate produced by the landfill must undergo treatment process to prevent further contamination of nearby water resources.

The treatment process will remove the contaminants in the wastewater so that when it is disposed to the drainage or other waterways, it will not cause pollution.

Rama said that the wastewater treatment facility they are planning to install is something that may be used in the landfill even after the facility will finally shut down.

The city government plans to shut down the landfill within this year as per the recommendation of the EMB-Solid Waste Management Division.

Engr. Amancio Dongcoy, EMB-7 Solid Waste Management coordinator, said they have recommended to the city government to close the landfill due to its present condition.

The landfill is already full because its lifespan has already expired years ago.

The facility was built in 1998 by Japanese experts to last only for seven years or until 2005.

The DENR also asked the city to reduce to eight meters the present 15 meters mound of trash in the facility in compliance with the standards.

City officials are just waiting for the announcement of Mayor Michael Rama on when to finally close the facility.

Councilor Rama said they will also ask the DENR for extension of the deadline.

“We will ask them for more time since they can see that we are doing something about it,” the councilor said.

The city has received various proposals from private companies who want to partner with the city in the installation of the treatment facility.

One company, Philippine Biosciences Company Inc. (Philbio) offered to install septic haulers to recover methane gas using advanced waste-to-energy systems.

There are at least 15 proposals that are currently being studied by the Solid Waste Management Board to address the city’s problem on garbage.

The city has been searching for an area suitable for a second landfill but has not found one yet until now.

But it is also focusing on assisting the barangays in establishing their own material recovery facilities (MRF) which, if achieved, will no longer require the putting up a new landfill of similar size to the existing one but a smaller one enough for the residual wastes that could not be processed at the MRF.

Councilor Rama said that next week, he will propose a resolution to the council to appropriate some funds for the installation of the treatment facility. -/WAB - (THE FREEMAN)