Firms without waste treatment plants near Manila Bay face scrutiny

Seventeen out of the 30 establishments near Manila Bay don’t have sewage treatment plants (STPs), according to the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA).
The LLDA, one of the agencies tasked to rehabilitate Manila Bay, said it was investigating 204 establishments and 38 hotels surrounding the bay to check their compliance with the 1997 concession agreement signed by the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System and the two concessionaires, Manila Water Company Inc and Maynilad Water Services Inc, requiring all enterprises in Western and Eastern Metro Manila to put up a wastewater treatment facility.
This move is part of the preparations for the massive clean up of Manila Bay.
LLDA General Manager Jaime Medina said those without sewage systems would undergo a separate inspection before the agency decides if it would issue a notice of violation, order them closed or file charges against them.
“We still have to check if they have septic tank with zero discharge of wastewater, which we allow. If they discharge wastewater that violates standard, that is the time that they will be penalised,” he said.
He said that they expect to finish their verification “before Tuesday next week.”
The Manila Zoo management confirmed that it does not have a sewage treatment plant.
“We are not the sole contributors of the pollution in Estero de San Antonio Abad but we recognise that we need to fix our drainage system,” Jas Garcia, officer in charge of the zoo’s public operations bureau, said.
Garcia claimed that only the water used to clean some 640 animals flow to the creek.
Garcia said the city government of Manila has promised to help them construct an STP.
Environment Secretary Roy Cimati has expressed the need to clean polluted waterways connected to the bay, such as the Estero de San Antonio Abad, which has the highest level of coliform or the harmful bacteria found in human and animal feces, with 1.3bn per 1000 millilitres.
Cimatu said his department would meet representatives of agencies and stakeholders involved in the restoration of the bay.