BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan ordered the City Environment and Parks Management Office (CEPMO) to plug all illegal sewer connections that were made by building owners and establishments in the city’s drainage system to help significantly reduce the foul odor emanating from the open manholes in the different parts of the city.
Domogan made the order after no less than the created special inspection team tasked to check the city’s drainage system led by CEPMO personnel confirmed the existence of illegal sewer connections of buildings and structures in the different drainage facilities that contribute to the clogging of the drainage system among others.
Furthermore, the inspection team found out there were stagnant water impounded in various parts of the city’s drainage system due to unequal elevations, thus, the need for the conduct of frequent massive flushing activities by the Baguio fire department in order help reducing the foul odor emanating from stagnant water in the drainage systems.
The task force is expected to submit its comprehensive report to the city mayor and the members of the council to guide them in future actions that will be undertaken in order to help clean the city’s clogged drainage system among others.
“The building owners and establishments that have illegally connected their sewer lines to the city’s drainage system must start removing the same and connect it with the city’s sewer treatment facility. They should not wait for the city government to plug their illegal connections which might result to inconveniences among their customers,” Domogan stressed.
The local chief executive explained the on-going inspections in the city’s drainage system is part of the city’s long term approach in order to make sure that the systems are working, especially with the onset of the rainy season to prevent frequent and unavoidable floodings in the city’s central business district area.
He also directed concerned city government departments to correct the defects in the elevation of the base of the drainage systems in order to reduce the stagnant water gathering in such areas that create foul odor and inconvenience among the public passing along the said systems.
Earlier, numerous complaints regarding the foul odor emanating from the various drainage systems flooded the different offices of the city government prompting the city mayor to create the task force to conduct the immediate inspection of the drainage systems and submit their findings and recommendations on how to minimize such foul odor emanating from it.
He said part of the immediate solutions that the city government will undertake is the flushing of the drainage systems within the central business district in order to minimize the foul odor emanating from the systems and allow local residents and visitors to freely walk through the different roads without inhaling the bad smell from the drainage system.
Domogan said building owners and establishments that illegally connected their sewer lines to the drainage systems should voluntarily remove the illegal sewer connections the soonest in order to prevent them from suffering the inconveniences of having their connections plugged with their wastes going back to their respective establishments, saying that they must show their concern for the welfare of their customers by making sure that their sewer systems are appropriately connected with the city’s sewer system. By Dexter A. See
