TWO years after the release of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the septage and sewerage management program and management of Davao sewage is still being released to the environment untreated.
The IRR of the Septage and Sewerage Management Ordinance of Davao City was released in 2013.
Septage or the combination of scum, sludge, and liquid that accumulates in septic tanks that are not disposed properly when these are extracted defeats the purpose of septic tanks. This is also a major contributor of E. coli and fecal coliform in major river systems.
Based on the Water Quality Assessment of Davao River, total coliform for both downstream and upstream of the river are 4,900-1,887,000 most probable number (mpn) /100 ml, while the standard is 1,000 mpn/1000ml.
With a downstream standard level of 200mpn per 100 ml, fecal coliform in Davao River was estimated at 9,600 to 293,000mpn per 100 ml while for the upstream, with a standard level of 100mpn per 100 ml, it was found with 1,700 to 8,700mpn/100 ml of fecal coliform.
Coliform may be considered indigenous in waters but fecal coliform is another thing because it can only be attributed to human and animal wastes.
The identified Water Quality Assessment Area Stations 1-4a which are considered as downstream waters includes the mouth of Davao River, below the Bolton Bridge, Marfori Heights Purok 17, Barangay 5-A, Quarry Area at Purok 8, Barangay 19-B Bacaca, San Rafael Bridge, Purok 9-A, Barangay Ma-a, River Walk, Crocodile Park, Barangay Ma-a, Davao River, Diversion Bridge Ma-a, and Waan Bridge, Purok 5, Barangay Waan.
Talomo River was found with a total number of 1,006 to 456,000 MPN per 100 ml with around 414 to 183,000mpn per 100 ml of fecal coliform.
This rise in the coliform level is due to human and animal wastes, houses located near the river, poultry and hog farms disposing their wastes in the river, and the City not having sewerage/septage treatment facility. This problem reported last year remains.
According to City Health Office Sanitary Inspector II Curtis Lazarraga, one of the most prevailing reasons for these are the fly by night desludgers who provide immediate service for households. Lazarraga said that there are a total of 11 septic tank excavators within the city but only three have secured disposal facilities for the sludge extracted.
In their list, only the Aquino Septic Tank Excavator and Plumbing Services with its disposal site in Magtuod, the Hardcore Septic Tank Excavator with its disposal site located is in the Mudiang, Bunawan District, and Surop Septic Tank Excavator and Plumbing Services and its disposal site is located at Tacunan, Tugbok are the accredited excavators.
Unaccredited excavators do not have the facilities to dispose and treat the sludge. Many operate in the dark of the night to pour out the sludge in open areas, canals, estuaries, and even on the beach. If the Septage and Sewerage Management Ordinance of Davao City is fully implemented, Rule XV of the ordinance, improper sludge disposal belongs to the prohibited acts and omissions and a first violation will be penalized with not less than 1,000 but not more than P2,000, at the discretion of the court.
The second offense will be a fine of not less than P2,000 but not more than 3,000 at the discretion of the court and the third and succeeding offenses fine of not less than 3,000 but not more than 5,000 and the imprisonment of not less than one month but not more than six (6) months year.
Apart from the illegal excavators that dispose of the sludge directly to waterway, some barangays in Davao City still have no toilets. Based on records of the City Health Office in the year 2014, in the 322, 419 households in Davao, or 10, 058 or 3.12% have no toilets, 25, 643 or 7. 95 % have insanitary toilets and 286,718 or 88. 32% have sanitary toilets.
Out of 10, 058 households without toilets, Toril got the highest number with 2,085, succeeded by Paquibato with 1,194, then Tugbok with 1,098, then Bunawan with 1,045, and Talomo North with 761. City Health Officer Dr. Josephine J. Villafuerte said that Sanitary Inspectors do constant monitoring on coastal areas and are reminding households without toilets to put up one.
Villafuerte also said that they put up toilets if requested by the community but the maintenance will be a collaboration between the community using the toilet and the barangay.
But, Lazarraga said that communal toilets stated by the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Septage and Sewerage Management Ordinance of Davao City is ill-advised especially in coastal barangays because there will be the tendency of the community not being concerned about the facility since this is for everybody.
She insists that the real solution is in relocating sea- and riverside residents; a solution that cannot be acted on given the enormity of the problem. All these, however, would have been alleviated had the city invested on the septage and sewerage facility that the ordinance provides for.
A septage treatment facility is a facility which receives septage or the liquid sludge periodically removed from individual septic tanks and thereafter separates the solids and the liquids and treats the liquids and solids, and presses the solids into a sludge “cake” that is transported for disposal.
The treated sludge which qualifies as biosolids, may be utilized as soil conditioner and for other beneficial use. This Septage and Sewerage and Sewage Treatment Plant/Facility is where the sludge will be unloaded for a fee provided by the IRR. The treatment of sludge must be done by any DOH-accredited individuals, companies, whether public, in any DOH-approved treatment facility.
The establishment as mandated by the IRR shall be pursuant of the Memorandum of Agreement entered into by and between the City Government of Davao and the Davao City Water District (DCWD) in accordance with the Section 28 of PD and Section 8 of RA 9275.
Based on the IRR in 2013 the city government shall provide an appropriate land which shall serve as the site of the septage and sewerage and sewage treatment plant and facility.
Its construction, however, was bogged down by a confusion of who really has the responsibility in managing this facility. Is it the local government or the Davao City Water District, who has the mandate of providing sewerage systems as well.
Pollution Control and Safety Officer of the DCWD John Baynosa also bared that the cause of the delay of the implementation of the facility is because of confusion on some responsibilities.
“We are confused before who will really be in-charge of Septage facility, if it’s the Local Government Unit or them, but then it was clarified that it was DCWDs responsibility” Baynosa said.
This was also confirmed in a separate interview with Lazarraga saying that the finding of lot then has been transferred to the DCWD.
“Dili explicitly stated in the ordinance that they would be the exclusive persons in authority, but in the Implementing Rules and Regulations ang nabutang was it was DCWD which garnered opinions of the council. (It is not explicitly stated in the ordinance that they would be the exclusive persons in authority but in the IRR it was stated that it was DCWD which garnered opinions of the council)” Lazarraga said.
Lazarraga said that a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) is now crafted between the Davao City and the DCWD to put up the treatment facility.
“It’s already being processed now and we are seeing light in the end of the tunnel,” Lazarraga said. Meanwhile in the end of the DCWD, Baynosa said that they only need the MOA to start the project is needed for the DCWD to operate and make the facility. He said that once it would be signed preliminary activities such as information dissemination about the importance of a septage treatment plant. In the meantime, it’s all talk.