By Catherine Teves/PNA
MANILA — Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) will tighten its campaign to clean up Manila Bay.
Aside from assuring action against solid waste polluting Manila Bay, DENR said environment chief Roy Cimatu targets spearheading inspection of sewage outfalls and pipes there.
The inspection aims to help DENR and other authorities trace sources of untreated wastewater discharging into Manila Bay so corrective measures can be undertaken to prevent dirty effluent from further reaching and polluting this water body, noted the agency’s information officer Robby Ceballo.
“It’s part of efforts to rehabilitate Manila Bay,” she said after DENR announced Thursday plans to inspect the outfalls and pipes this week.
Outfall is a waste stream’s discharge point into a water body.
Manila Bay’s rehabilitation is DENR’s “next big target” after the rehabilitation of top tourist destination Boracay Island.
“Although Manila Bay is known for having one of the most beautiful sunsets, its waters are considered the most polluted in the country due to domestic sewage, toxic industrial effluents from factories and shipping operations and leachate from garbage dumps, among others,” an earlier statement from the DENR read.
Cimatu targets restoring Manila Bay’s waters to a level fit for swimming and other contact forms of recreation.
Such target is in line with Supreme Court’s 2008 order for DENR and other agencies to clean up, rehabilitate and preserve Manila Bay.
Those agencies are the agriculture, public works, interior, education, health and budget departments, Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, Local Water Utilities Administration, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine National Police-Maritime Group and Philippine Ports Authority.
