Steady water supply has always been a concern for Baguio City with the city’s population, tourism, degraded watersheds and other environmental factor, and more so with the El Niño phenomenon ahead.
Through the City Environment and Parks Management Office (CEPMO), the local government unit (LGU) of Baguio continues to identify and adopt measures to address water challenges in the city.
City Environment and Parks Management Officer Rhenan Diwas shared that the challenge is no longer about water supply; it is about the sustainability of the city itself.
“Water security now directly affects public health, environmental stability, tourism, disaster resilience, economic growth, and the future livability of Baguio City,” Diwas said.
He added that waste water management is among the prevailing problems encountered within the city.
“The city continues to face serious, serious waste water management concerns. Inspections of water waste in tributaries continue to reveal illegal discharge of untreated waste water, improper septic systems, illegal dumping, and environmental violations that contribute to severe water pollution, contamination of rivers and creeks, foul odors and ecological degradation” the officer shared.
To counter these issues, the LGU rolled out intensive mechanisms.
“The city has intensified inspections and enforcement activities resulting in the issuance of numerous notices of violations, and legal actions have led to imposition of penalties” Diwas said.
Long-term science-based solutions are also in the pipeline, he added.
“The city continues to pursue long term and science-based approaches toward integrated water resource management, and waste water rehabilitation. Our city engineers and technical personnel here have already completed the technical and organic feasibility studies, aside from the feasibility studies made by the ADB, necessary for the rehabilitation and upgrading of the sewage treatment plants,” Diwas said.
The completed feasibility studies will serve as the foundation in sourcing financial support and technical assistance from national government and development partners for the rehabilitation of the facilities.
On top of this, the city has already secured partnerships among stakeholders to implement gender-responsive approaches on water resilience.
“The city has strengthened its partnership with the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation to the BRIDGE project, supported by global affairs-Canada. This initiative seeks to establish an integrated water resource management framework for Baguio City focused on climate resilience, participatory risk mapping and institutional strengthening and sustainable water governance” Diwas said.
Article by JDP/CVBT-PIA CAR w/ Alisha Faith D. Marcial-UC Intern | Philippine Information Agency
Photo by PIA
