PRIVATELY held utilities firm Boracay Island Water Co. (Boracay Water) claims it is intensifying its desludging operations, more than two months after the island-resort was closed on April 26.
Boracay Water is the largest water supply and wastewater management services provider based in Malay, Aklan.
In a statement, Boracay Water said it has recently acquired an additional three desludging trucks that can haul up to 9 cubic meters of wastewater or used water from households and establishments that are not yet connected to the sewer system.
Boracay Water General Manager and COO Joseph Michael A. Santos said two trucks can haul 2 cubic meters of water, while one can haul 5 cubic meters of sludge. The company now has a total fleet of seven desludging trucks, which can collect up to 20 cubic meters of used water per day from the company’s residential and commercial customers in areas without access to the sewer network.
“This effort to expand our desludging capacity is in line with Boracay Water’s aim to accelerate our used water management programs in support of the rehabilitation of the island,” Santos said.
After gathering accumulated used water from the septic tanks of residential and commercial establishments, these trucks deliver the used water to Boracay Water’s two sewage treatment plants that may treat up to 11,500 cubic meters daily.
The company’s sewage-treatment plants ensure that used water are treated and processed in strict compliance with the government-mandated Class SB effluent water quality, or water that is fit for recreational activities and would not pollute the island’s pristine
beach waters.
According to Santos, desludging is an interim solution to the used water requirements of the island as it continues to fast-track its master plan set to further expand Boracay Water’s sewage network capacity to 37 kilometers by 2021 and build the third sewage-treatment plant in Barangay Yapak with a capacity to treat 5 million liters of used water per day.
Even prior to the closure, Boracay Water has been expanding its sewer system and network, consistent with the infrastructure master plan approved by the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority Regulatory Office.
In 2017 until the first quarter of the year, about 12,860 cubic meters of used water has been collected through Boracay Water’s desludging services both from residential and commercial establishments. While a total of 77 establishments have availed themselves of the desludging services since the closure was implemented.
On Wednesday Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu said water quality in Boracay, based on regular samplings conducted over the past few weeks, has greatly improved, prompting him to declare that “Boracay is no longer a cesspool.”
His spokesman, Jonas R. Leones, told the BusinessMirror that the campaign in Boracay will not stop unless water bodies on the island are restored to its pristine state.
Leones, who is also undersecretary for policy, planning and international affairs of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), said the agency will strictly enforce the policy that all establishments, including residential buildings, resorts and hotels near the shores will have to put up their own sewage-treatment plant. The same policy applies to hotels and resorts with more than 50 rooms on the island, even if their establishments are situated inland or away from the beach, to ensure that no direct discharge of untreated wastewater will cause water pollution.
The official said the search for hidden pipes discharging untreated wastewater directly into the sea will continue as part of the campaign.