WHILE the Baguio Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) is undergoing rehabilitation, the Environment Management Bureau-Cordillera Administrative Region (EMB-CAR) urged big establishments in the city to install their own STP to treat their effluents.
Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong and EMB-CAR Regional Director Maria Victoria Abrera on Wednesday, August 7, inspected four establishments with the highest estimated wastewater volume.
Among the four, two of the establishments are directly connected to the Baguio Sewage Treatment Plant (BSTP) while the other two are connected to the sewer line of the BSTP.
"They belong to the 11 establishments generating big volume of wastewater. They underwent some tests which failed. These are the critical establishments that we want to focus on," Abrera said in a media interview on Thursday.
Abrera said effluents should be treated before these reach the sewer line.
"Since the STP's rehabilitation is ongoing under Mayor Magalong, we are discouraging these big establishments with STP to disconnect and treat their effluents because the final discharges will be Balili or Bued River with high fecal coliform," added Abrera.
The EMB official said it is important for the establishments to contain the pollution in an area and avoid discharge in the main sewer line.
They are also asked to simultaneously construct STP and draft an action plan within 90 days.
Based on EMB-CAR’s record, the design capacity of the city's STP is 8,500 cubic meters a day. This goes up to 12,000 cubic meters per day during the rainy season.
The STP, managed by the Wastewater, Water Ambient Air Management Division of the City Environment and Parks Management Office and city government, serves the central business district covering 65 barangays out of the 128 barangays of Baguio.
The Baguio STP was established using a grant from the Japanese government. Construction was completed in March 1986. (Lauren Alimondo)