BAGUIO CITY – The City Environment and Parks Management Office (CEPMO) is currently studying the best option on how to bring back the clear waters of the 2-hectare Burnham lake that became murky for over a month now.
Cordelia C. Lacsamana, city environment and parks management officer, said the three possible ways to change the discoloration of the Burnham lake waters which was proposed by the agriculture department and other concerned agencies are now being seriously evaluated by experts from their office considering the huge fund requirement for the implementation of the three interventions.
“We are now on the process of assessing which of the three proposal would be the cheapest and the easiest way to clean the Burnham lake waters and bring back the original state of the lake waters,” Lacsamana told city officials and other department heads during an executive-legislative meeting.
She disclosed among the recommended solutions to get rid of the chocolate color of the water inside the lake include the increase in the volume of water in the facility, the placement of chlorine in order to help clear up the water and the draining of the existing water and replacing the same.
However, Lacsamana explained all the proposed interventions need huge budgetary requirements which is up to P6 million that the government has yet to produce.
According to her, the major causes of the murky color of the Burnham lake water are the red algae and the clay properties underneath the lake plus the dust that was enhanced by the on-going rehabilitation of the Baguio Athletic Bowl.
The CEPMO department head explained the recommended interventions are now being seriously studied in order to prevent the office from coming out with recommendations that might fail and worsen the situation.
Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan directed the CEPMO to fastrack the study on what would be the most feasible solution in order to clean the water of the Burnham lake for it to be brought back to its original clear color that would entice visitors to enjoy their boating activities while in the city.
The local chief executive directed the CEPMO to look for other agencies and entities that could provide the city government with other recommendations on how to solve the current problem in the Burnham lake so that it could be applied the soonest.
Earlier, majority of the visitors who wen boating in the lake expressed disappointment because the water has become murky unlike in the previous years that the ware in the lake was clean and that they appealed to the local government to adopt the appropriate measures to clean the water.
Boating in the man-made lake has been a common activity of visitors who frequent the city for over several decades now.
Despite the discoloration of the lake water, boating concessionaires still realize huge influx of visitors wanting to do boating activities around the lake with the hope that the city government will be able to come out with the appropriate measures to clean the water and bring back the grandeur of the lake.
