BAGUIO CITY – Members of the City Camp Lagoon task force agreed jointly survey the proposed site of the multi-million sewage treatment plant for the immediate construction of the facility that will hopefully effectively and efficiently address the sewage concerns of residents living in the surrounding barangays.
Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan said the members of the task force want to make sure the possible encroachments of structures on the proposed site for the sewage treatment plant within the City Camp Lagoon are addressed so that the local government can initiate the necessary measures to address the problem before it will go out of control.
Earlier, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) planned to put up a sewage treatment plant within a portion of the City Camp Lagoon area to make sure that residents in the surrounding barangays will connect to the said facility and utilize the same for the treatment of their sewerage waste instead of discharging their liquid waste to the lagoon area.
“We want to make sure that there are no encroachments on the land reserved for the proposed sewerage treatment plant so that there will be no untoward delays in the construction of the project that has been already provided with the funding from the national government. We are grateful that barangay officials are cooperative of the put up of the facility and the joint survey in the proposed area of the plant,” Domogan stressed.
While some barangay officials in the barangays affected by the construction of the sewerage treatment plant admitted there are several encroachments made by some residents on the proposed plant site, the local chief executive added that the results of the survey will ascertain and pinpoint those residents who have encroached to guide decision-makers on the needed action to solve the problem and allow the construction of the facility.
The local government proposed to the DPWH the needed funding for the put up of the needed sewage treatment plant within the City Camp Lagoon area to serve as a treatment facility for liquid waste being discharged by the residents before it flows to the rigger systems instead of the residents directly discharging their liquid waste to the lagoon and other tributaries in the area.
Some P139 million is earmarked by the agency for the construction of the City Camp Lagoon sewerage treatment plant as an added health and sanitation intervention.
The operation of the City Camp Lagoon sewerage treatment plant will be similar to the operation of the Sanitary Camp sewerage treatment facility that was constructed through the assistance of the Japan International Cooperating Agency (JICA) in the early 1980s.
By Dexter A. See
