Water district eyes second septage treatment plant

CEBU, Philippines — The Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) is set to launch its second Septage Treatment Facility following the signing of the memorandum of agreement with the Cebu provincial government and Cebu City government.

MCWD, in a statement, said the facility will be built on a portion of the around five-hectare government property at the North Reclamation Area (NRA). The properties include the 3.3-hectare block 27, the Septage Treatment Plant (13,711 square meters) and the city’s abattoir (2,476 square meters), which the city government swapped with the Capitol –owned lots as part of the 93-1 deal.

The STF will have a capacity of about 500 cubic meters per day and will properly treat and dispose of septic tank waste collected from residences, as well as commercial and industrial establishments in the cities of Cebu, Talisay and Mandaue and the municipalities of Consolacion, Liloan and Compostela.

"We are working very hard to protect our groundwater sources and surrounding seas which will be our future water supply for Metro Cebu,” MCWD General Manager Jose Eugenio Singson Jr.  said in the same statement.

The agreement was signed by Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III and Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmena on January 7, 2019 and December 29, 2018, respectively.

MCWD has an existing 150-cubic meter capacity septage treatment plant in Barangay San Miguel in Cordova town. The plant has been serving MCWD’s consumers in Cordova and Lapu-Lapu City since 2016.

MCWD’s Septage Management Program is aimed at protecting groundwater sources in Metro Cebu that are facing increasing threats of pollution from septic tank waste, which contaminates the aquifer.

In fact, MCWD has shut down several wells due to nitrate infiltration.

The water district, which contributes only to about 35 percent of the daily extraction of groundwater, said Metro Cebu’s aquifer is already compromised.

It regularly monitors aquifer’s salinity levels and nitrate content to ensure that water supply is safe.

Part of its measures is the denitrification program, which targets to treat the water from wells exceeding the allowable nitrate content.

Amid the water supply shortage in Metro Cebu, MCWD is working on minimizing the gap between the demand and the supply.

The current demand of Metro Cebu’s over one million population is now at 450,000 cubic meters per day, way higher than what MCWD is producing at 236,000 cubic meters. The water is sourced mostly from groundwater wells and bulk water supply from private suppliers.

"MCWD is actively looking for alternative sources for the medium and long term by turning to surface water sources, like the proposed Mananga Dam, and a desalination plant," the statement read. (FREEMAN)