GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/19 August) — The city government here is pushing for the full operationalization before yearend of its P8-million wastewater treatment facility for the city’s central public market.
Avel Manansala, executive assistant of the city mayor’s office, said they are targeting to complete the project’s construction, by November this year.
He said the facility, implemented with assistance of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is being built on a clearing beside the old site of the city’s abattoir, located several meters away from the shores of Sarangani Bay.
“It is meant to treat the wastewater passing through a drainage that would come out from the central public market before they would be released to the Sarangani Bay,” he said.
Manansala said the wastewater treatment plant will ensure that all water wastes disposed by the public market complex would be free of any harmful bacteria when they eventually flow into the bay. The wastewater treatment facility project was implemented by the city government in partnership with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Environmental Management Bureau and the USAid’s Environmental Governance 2 Project or EcoGov2.
In 2008, USAid initially released some P300,000 for the development of the detailed engineering design of the project.
Mayor Darlene Antonino-Custodio earlier described the project as cost-efficient as it would utilize a natural wastewater treatment method using modern technology on wastewater recycling.
“This is a good investment for the city government and will not only benefit our own constituents but also residents in several areas in Sarangani province,” she said.
Custodio said they placed the project near the public market complex due to the considerable volume of waste water that it generates on a daily basis.
Records show that the public market, especially its eateries as well as fish and meat sections, generates at least 40 cubic meters of wastewater daily. (Allen V. Estabillo/MindaNews)
