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This city, together with five other cities in the Philippines became the site for a wastewater treatment facility project launched today, in a joint cooperation of the city government and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-ECO-Asia, through the Local Initiatives for Affordable Wastewater Treatment (LINAW).
The treatment plant, which was built in an old slaughterhouse near the city’s auxiliary wet market, was constructed for the treatment of used water disposed from the surrounding stalls and would be reused for cleaning toilets and watering of plants after both are processed through mechanized and non-mechanized curing. The system consist the use of grit screens, septic tanks and an anaerobic baffled reactor that reduces the biochemical oxygen demand of more than 300 milligrams per liter to less than 30.
The San Fernando design caters up to 300 cubic meters of wastewater. Mayor Pablo Ortega, who led the launching, narrated that Vietnam’s wastewater treatment plant is bigger by twenty times more that can generate less water supply costs.
Here, crushed glass and coco peat are also tested as part of the secondary treatment process with a sequencing batch reactor used for tertiary treatment- the result would be reusable water for flushing or watering plants.
In a speech by Mayor Ortega, he congratulated the initiators and vendors, as well as the stakeholders of the said project as it is an addition to protecting, preserving and commitment to environment through cooperation and good governance. This would save water that supplies the stalls and lessens the odor created particularly in the meat, poultry and fish sections as it lessens up to ten times of dangerous wastes coming from the market, particularly affecting canals and seawater. Before the project was built, wastewater here is disposed through drainage that goes towards a creek and eventually, to the San Fernando Bay.
USAID ECO-Asia, which provided technical assistance during the construction, was represented by Dave Robbins, a senior sanitation specialist.
At the same launching program, a Wash Day (demonstration in hand-washing), dental hygiene, was also held to remind residents of the advantages and consequences of practicing water sanitation and cleanliness. It was participated by students from Catbangen Central School, Lingsat Community School, Christ the King College, Ilocanos and Pagupud Elementary Schools, Saint Louis College and Sevilla Elementary School, as well as nursing affiliates of Lorma Colleges, La Union College of Nursing and Union Christian College.
Also in participation in a parlor game are the Provincial Health Office, Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University (Bacnotan and La Union Colleges).with reports from Anne Hazel Flores |
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