DAVAO CITY, Philippines – A local environmental group here called out to the local government and other concerned agencies to assess and monitor the current water quality of the Matina Pangi river following reported leak coming from a sanitary landfill in New Carmen.
In an interview, Chinkie Golle, executive director of Interface Development Interventions, said the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) should immediately conduct water sampling to evaluate the kind of toxic substances that went through the river in order to warn the residents.
“While the City Environment and Natural Resources is trying to prevent the leaching, the EMB should monitor to make sure what toxic substances and how it should be addressed to at least prevent the impact it could cause on the biodiversity and water itself,” Golle said on Monday, November 21.
Earlier, the EMB confirmed that the case of leaching on the sanitary landfill in New Carmen, Tugbok district was observed since August this year. The leachate or liquid waste has already reached a portion of Matina Pangi river.
However, no water sampling was done yet, according to Gole.
Golle said once an assessment is completed, the local government should issue a warning to the residents living near the river.
“They should announce the current status and the warning and tell people what to do,” she added.
Speaking at the regular session on Tuesday, November 20, Dolores Remojo, supervising environmental management specialist of the waste management division of City Environment and Natural Resources (CENRO) said the office has already took measures to address the leachate spillage.
“We cleaned up the six stages filtration facility. This is our commitment to the EMB-DENR region 11 and we enhanced our impounding pond to secure it with perimeter fence,” Remojo said.
One unit of submersible pump was also purchased by the office to complete the recirculation method of the sanitary landfill and prevent leaching, Remojo added.
She also cited that by December, the existing landfill will be rehabilitated.
The City Council has allotted P42 million for the rehabilitation of the said landfill, while another P100 million will be used to construct a new landfill facility. (davaotoday.com)
