Sewerage treatment facility opens today

CEBU, Philippines -  The P15 million  Sewerage Treatment Facility installed at the North Reclamation Area will be fully operational starting today.

The facility was donated by AMCON, Inc. of Japan which developed and manufactured the Volute Dewatering Press, a facility that manages surplus sludge from biochemical treatments, livestock wastewater, septic tanks, and oil bearing sludge from dissolved-air floatation thickening tanks.

Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office head Randy Navarro said the facility has the capacity to store 200-meter cubic of septic waste while the machine can process at least 10 cubic meters of waste per hour.

The facility will be operated by AMCON for two years, after which it will be turned over to the city government.

“As one of the livable cities in Asia, it is timely that we have this facility. The tipping fees should not be pegged that it would burden our consumers,” said Mayor Michael Rama.

Yusuke Suzuki of AMCON said extending assistance to Cebu would give them advantage because it will expand their market in the Philippines.

“This is a big opportunity for us to let people know that we exist and manufactured this kind of equipment. Also, we felt that one of the biggest problems of Cebu is the septage management,” he said.

Lawyer Jade Ponce, chairman of the Solid Waste Management Board, said the facility would finally address the septic waste problem in the city and would form part  of the effort to comply with the provisions of  the Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004.

“Those days when we used to fear where our septic haulers throw their collected septic waste are over. Cebu City finally has a modern environmentally sound solution to septic waste disposal with the arrival and installation of the system,” Ponce said.

He said they still have to propose for tipping fees among the private haulers who acquired the services of the city. However, the amount is yet to be determined.

The private septic operators or private desludgers will be monitored by SWMB and all barangays. (FREEMAN)