The national government of the Philippines has signed a grant agreement with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to provide grant aid of approximately 2-billion Japanese Yen (P807 million) and fund septage management projects of Metro Cebu Water District.
The project will involve the construction of a septage treatment facility, provision of vacuum trucks for septage collection and operating system for sludge treatment of approximately 430 cubic meters of septage per day to ensure that uncontaminated sewage water is discharged back to the natural environment.
JICA added the project will benefit six local government units including Cebu, Compostela, Consolacion, Liloan, Mandaue and Talisay.
The grant is also seen to help the region overcome its capacity shortage for wastewater management facilities as Metropolitan Cebu’s roadmap until 2050, targets to adequately treat wastewater by 50 percent in 2030 and 90 percent by 2050.
JICA also said that even if septic tanks are widely spread in the region, de-sludging is not regularly practiced and collected septage are rarely appropriately treated due to limited available treatment facilities which becomes a possible health risk due to negative impacts such as deteriorating groundwater quality and surface water pollution.
“Climate change has increased extreme weather events like droughts, putting pressure on water resources. The JICA grant for a septage management system is one way of using Japan’s advanced technology and systems to promote sanitation and improve water quality while protecting water environments,” said Sakamoto Takema, chief representative of JICA Philippines office, in a statement.
JICA said the grant also helps the region to comply with the Clean Water Act of 2004 that requires all local government units operating without piped sewerage systems to implement septage management.
