Description

As the country is committed to improving access to sanitation in light of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (UN-MDG), strict implementation of RA 9275 or the Clean Water Act of 2004 across all water districts in the country is ensured by LWUA. As per the Writ of Mandamus of the Supreme Court which is to clean-up, rehabilitate, and preserve the Manila Bay, local water districts in coordination with the DENR shall provide, install, operate, and maintain sewerage and sanitation facilities.

Septage Management Program (SMP) is one way of properly handling the wastewater that aims to regularly collect, transport, treat, and dispose septage. Its specific objectives include improvement of urban health and sanitation, reduction of pollution load in Laguna de Bay and Manila Bay, and compliance to local and national environmental laws.

In this program, septic tanks are expected to be present in every household, commercial areas, and government institutions. Collection and transport of sludge will be done using a tank-mounted truck, which is commonly known as vacuum truck. This truck will eventually transfer the collected septage into a treatment facility, which in this case called Septage Treatment Plant (SpTP), before discharging the liquid component or the effluent. The effluent produced after the process must comply with the general effluent standards set by the DENR DAO 2016-08. On the other hand, solid component of the septage or the sludge will still undergo several treatments prior to land application such as soil conditioner or fertilizer.

Laguna Water District (LWD), who will implement the SMP within its service area, will prioritize Municipalities of Bay, Los Baños, and Calauan. Construction of the SpTP will be done in phasing and modular. An initial capacity of 30 m3 semi-mechanized treatment system will be established to serve the priority areas. The difference of the proposed SpTP to a fully mechanized system is that it will not use a Septage Acceptance Unit for the removal of solid materials present in septage. Also, Membrane Bioreactor or MBR is the proposed technology in the treatment facility to accurately meet the standards set in the new DAO 2016-08.