The water service provider with the only centralized sewerage system in the world-famous island of Boracay said it continues to remain compliant with the stringent pollution-control standards of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
With a network spanning over 22 kilometers of sewer lines serving more than 1,000 commercial and residential establishments and a fleet of seven desludging trucks to haul wastewater coming from those in unsewered areas, Boracay Island Water Co. Inc. (Boracay Water), said it ensures that wastewater discharges or effluents are treated in its two sewage-treatment plants and are consistently compliant with the DENR-mandated Class SB water quality or water that is fit for recreational activities and contact uses that would not pollute the island’s pristine beach waters.
Boracay Water operates and manages the Balabag Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) with an expanded wastewater-treatment capacity of 6.5 million liters per day (MLD), more than double the original capacity of only 2.5 MLD when it was still under the operation of then Boracay Waterworks and Sewerage System back in 2008.
It was completed in March 2011, four years ahead of the regulatory completion target and fully environmentally compliant.
A second STP in Barangay Manoc-Manoc was also constructed by Boracay Water to cater to the increasing demand for wastewater treatment, with a capacity of 5 MLD, the water-service firm said in a news release.
The combined treatment capacity of both STPs at 11.5 MLD ensures that wastewater from its connected customers always conforms with DENR standards.
The recent completion of a diversion system from the Balabag STP to the Manoc-Manoc STP will further allow the system to handle more sewer connections even from non-Boracay Water customers, making certain that they will always meet the requirements and regulations set by the DENR. With the operation of the sewage-treatment facilities and the expansion of the sewer network—61 percent of the sewer lines laid and completed—sewer coverage on the island has doubled from only 22 percent in 2010 to almost 45 percent to date, with wastewater from more establishments fully compliant with the DENR effluent standards.
A third STP to be built in Barangay Yapak with a treatment capacity of 5 MLD is set to be completed in 2020 to cater to the wastewater-treatment requirements of commercial and residential establishments in the island’s third barangay. This will make Boracay Island as the only beach destination with a sewage treatment in each of its barangays.
Since the start of its operations in 2010, Boracay Water has been consistently implementing its master plan for the island’s sewer system aligned with the approved plan of its regulator, the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority, the news release said.