Aileen P. Refuerzo
BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Benjamin Magalong welcomed offers to conduct feasibility studies on introduction of new technologies that would address solid and liquid wastes, two of the city’s pressing concerns.
The mayor last week gave the go signal for studies to determine the viability of two proposed technologies: the first from Japanese company Toyo Energy Solution Co. Ltd. for a waste-to-energy system of disposing the city’s daily garbage output of 400 metric tons and second from Cebu-based Mactan Rock Industries for the processing of the city’s wastewater into potable produce.
In a meeting July 5, Toyo executives Koichi Ishizaka, Takashi Kanazawa and Yoshimitsu Okada offered to put up a plant that would convert the city’s refuse into electricity, methane gas and solid fuel without the need for segregation (except for toxic or hospital wastes) and incineration.
There would also be no gas emission or thermal combustion in the system and 20 percent of the fuel produced will be used to power the plant and the rest can be sold.
The plant would require a four-hectare lot to process the city’s wastes, 40 percent of which are biodegradable.
The Japanese experts were accompanied by a representative of President Rodrigo Duterte who endorsed the technology after personally witnessing its operation during his visit to Japan.
Toyo representatives assured that they will go through the required processes like the conduct of a feasibility study and the securing of the Environmental Impact Assessment before the project will be implemented.
The mayor allowed members of the Zero Waste Coalition in the city to witness the presentation and scrutinize the proposed project.
Meanwhile, Mactan Rock Chief Executive Officer Antonio Tompar last July 8 pitched his technology that will treat the city’s liquid wastes and convert it to drinking water at no cost to the city.
He said the produce will be sold at a lower cost or at the level of non-potable water for household use.
Mactan Rock has put up more than 30 wastewater treatment plants all over the country that are now producing clear water with the use of their high performance water clarifiers and other equipment.
Tompar agreed to the mayor’s suggestion to conduct a feasibility study on the expansion of the existing sewerage treatment plant at South Sanitary Camp and on the proposed construction of two new plants, one to be put up at Rock Quarry barangay and the other at the Slaughterhouse Compound Magsaysay Ave.
Based on the study which will be done at no cost to the city, he will submit an unsolicited proposal for the city’s consideration.
Tompar noted that the city’s plan for its sewage management as presented by City Environment and Parks Management Officer Ruben Cervantes and CEPMO Water, Wastewater Ambient Air Management Division (WAMD) Head Engr. Moises Lozano is on the right direction as it complements Mountain Rock’s scheme.
The water treatment projects are being pursued to address the increasing volume of sewage that flows into the city’s waterways and drain into the river tributaries thereby contributing to their pollution levels.
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Meanwhile, city officials urged punong barangays to prioritize clearing, declogging and desilting of canals, creeks and waterways to prevent flooding during the rainy and typhoon season.
City Engineer Edgar Victorio Olpindo said the task is part of the mandate of the barangay officials being the designated environmental enforcers by virtue of the Environment Code of Baguio City.
Olpindo said teams from the City Engineering Office have been conducting declogging operations in waterways in various parts of the city particularly the large drainages at the City Camp lagoon tunnel and San Roque drainage.
However, barangay officials should also do their part in maintaining these waterways by continuous monitoring and by preventing their constituents from indiscriminately throwing their wastes.
In the past years, improper waste disposal was observed to have caused the clogging of the drainage openings and canals resulting to flooding during heavy rains and typhoons.
“It would be appreciated that during the clearing works, barangays officials or their representatives will come and assist our team specially in coordinating with the residents and to continue to monitor and clean up the wastes so these will not accumulate as this is part of their mandate being environmental enforcers under the Environment Code,” Olpindo said.
He said Resolution No. 252 series of 2013 also requires barangay heads to intensify the drive to keep their waterways clear for the rainy season.