THE Davao's Watershed Management Council (WMC) warned anew the residents near the sanitary landfill and areas covered by the Matina Pangi River where the leachate passed through to refrain from bathing in the river.
The leachate that seeps through the river emits toxic chemicals and it might trigger serious health problems.
Chinkie Pelino-Golle, Interface Development Interventions (Idis) executive director, said that during the meeting of the WMC last December, the Davao City Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro) was tasked to lead the information dissemination among affected barangays through putting up signage to warn the residents.
"Last December during the meeting of WMC, we agreed that communities near the river be warned not to bathe in the river because soaking in infested waters may have bad effects (to their health)," Golle said.
One of the health problems that people might acquire from bathing on the toxic-contaminated water is skin infection.
Golle said the problem has been solved, as the city had purchased a submersible pump, which will pump out the leachate from the impounding pond back to the landfill to prevent the toxic fluid from spilling through the riverbanks. This will serve as a short-term mitigating measure.
For the long-term plan, she said the City has a P134-million budget already for the new location of another sanitary landfill but they are still scouting for an area suitable for it.
It is allocated for the acquisition of two five-hectare sanitary landfills of Davao City and for the procurement of equipment for the landfill.
This move was developed due to the increasing volume of waste collected and the existing landfill is almost filled up.