OBO told: Check residents’ compliance with septic system

CEBU, Philippines — The Office of the Building Official (OBO) of Mandaue City is called on to inspect illegal settlers’ compliance with sanitation laws.

Mandaue City Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna said the city wants to know if the settlers living along the Butuanon River are compliant with the existing ordinance, which requires all households in the city to install septic tanks.

Around 700 houses of informal settlers are built within the three-meter easement zone of the river from Barangay Canduman to Barangay Umapad.

Human waste and household garbage are directly thrown into the river, polluting further the 24-kilometer tributary, said Fortuna. Butuanon is the city's largest waterway and considered as “biologically dead” since 1992.

Human waste, for instance, is the primary cause of water contamination.

Some 4.5 billion people across the globe still do not have access to “safely managed sanitation services” or toilets that are connected to a sewer or pit or septic tank that treats human waste, a recent report of the World Health Organization (WHO) has shown.

Of the 4.5 billion people without access to toilets, some 2.3 billion people lack basic sanitation, with almost half of them forced to defecate in the open.

Fortuna said the city needs the exact figure of settlers without septic tanks to address the issue as part of the efforts to revive and rehabilitate the river.

"Mao nang pangitaan pag paagi unsay buhaton," he said.

Among the solutions, he said, is to relocate the informal settlers.

Residents are prohibited to build houses within the three-meter easement zone of rivers, creeks and other bodies of water as their lives may be put in danger during heavy rains, which would cause the tributaries to overflow and submerge houses in flood waters.

River summit

Last week, the city government hosted the 4th International River Summit (IRS), a three-day convention where river advocates and experts gathered to tackle and come up with ideas and strategies in reviving the river.

Fortuna said the summit, which started on November 22 and ended on November 24, was very successful. It was attended by around a thousand participants.

A memorandum of understanding was signed on the last day of the convention between the local government unit, the academe, and the local and international agencies involved in water management for the creation of the International River Ecosystem Network.

The network aimed at raising awareness and commitment in saving the rivers. It would also serve as the basis of coordination for stakeholders and as a global platform for knowledge.

During the summit, City Mayor Gabriel Luis Quisumbing also issued a mandamus that calls for action to the moral obligation in managing rivers

Legaspi City will host next year’s IRS. It was held first in Iloilo City in 2012, followed by Marikina City in 2014, and Cagayan de Oro in 2016. (FREEMAN)