BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio Domogan last week directed the City Buildings and Architecture Office (CBAO) to prepare the program of work (POW) for the upgrading of the Baguio Sewage Treatment Plant (BSTP) at South Sanitary Camp barangay to jumpstart the crucial project and expand the now 30-year old facility.
In his administrative order, the mayor tasked the office headed by Engr. Nazita Banez to come up with detailed engineering plans, cost estimates, Critical Path Method and Program Evaluation Review Technique network of activities for the project in coordination with the Wastewater, Water and Ambient Air Management Division of the City Environment and Parks Management Office and the City Engineering Office.
Newly installed CEPM Officer Ruben Cervantes said the POW will serve as the parameter in assessing the offers being received by the city for a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) venture.
CEPMO will also use the POW as basis in determining the funding that will be proposed for the facility for inclusion in the budget for year 2020, he added.
The mayor said that the BSTP is “among the city-owned facilities capable of treating domestic sewage coming from residential, commercial and institutional buildings within the Central Business District and adjoining barangays – a 32-year old facility covering 65 urban barangays operating at 24 hours daily, 365 days a year with a design capacity of 8,600 cubic meters per day.”
He said the upgrade is long overdue as “raw wastewater continually increases coming from the city’s sewer collection lines or sewerlines due to the increasing number of sewer-connected buildings thus leading to the overloading of the plant’s design capacity, inefficiency of treatment and difficulty in complying with the effluent standards.
Meanwhile, four projects are currently in the works to improve the city’s sewage treatment capability and reduce the load of the overworked BSTP.
Cervantes said the proposed separate STP for the Slaughterhouse Compound will soon be subjected to a feasibility study as a pre-requisite to the implementation of the project.
City Veterinarian Brigit Piok said that with its own STP, the abattoir will be able to treat its own liquid wastes without having to pass through the BSTP and will ensure that the wastewater is treated properly before its release to the waterways and the river system.
The same is true for the proposed separate STPs for the city market and Lower Quarry barangays for which the city is sourcing out funds.
The proposed STP for the city market will address the problem of vendors directly disposing their wastewater at the main sewerage system contributing to the overloading and clogging while the one at Lower Quarry will cover areas that are not being served by the BSTP.
Cervantes said a septage facility is now operational at the BSTP specifically for liquid wastes drawn from private septic tanks by private septage haulers.
He said wastewater from septic tanks is so concentrated and needs a separate treatment facility.
Apart from these new facilities, the city employs measures to prevent pollution of the river system by making the connection to the city sewerage system compulsory and by requiring buildings to have their own septic tanks.** Aileen P. Refuerzo
