The implementation of the wastewater master plan of East Zone concessionaire is now in full swing with the recent inauguration of the modern Olandes Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) in Marikina City and the soon-to-be-operational Poblacion wastewater treatment facility in Makati City.
The plan had been formulated to address the urgency to rehabilitate and maintain water bodies in Metro Manila which have been classified as biologically dead. Recent studies show that households discharge 80% of the pollution volume where 60% of all water pollution is domestic in nature. Quite alarmingly, 35% of the population residing in informal settlements has no proper sanitation facilities where a third of all monitored diseases are said to be water-borne.
Manila Water has been pioneering the efforts on wastewater management especially now that more than 99% of its concession area has 24-hour available clean and potable water supply. At the onset of the Manila Water operations, east Metro Manila only had a very low 3% coverage; that is, only a handful are connected to sewer lines where used water is conveyed to a wastewater facility for proper treatment. The rest are dependent on ill-constructed septic tanks locally known as posonegro. In some cases, particularly in dwellings near esteros and river embankments, sanitation facilities are totally absent.
Two approaches have been identified to ensure proper wastewater management.
One involves a separate sewer system where there is a separate sewage or waste collection pipeline that will convey sewage from individual households to the treatment facilities.
