BORACAY WATER, READY TO ACCEPT AND TREAT SEWAGE FROM NON-BIWC CUSTOMERS

In support of President Duterte’s Executive Order No. 53 directing the mandatory connection of all establishments in Boracay to the island’s central wastewater facilities, Boracay Water began fast tracking the implementation of wastewater expansion projects to accommodate all establishments in the island including non-Boracay Water customers or those who are currently being served by island’s other water service provider.

In Photo:: One of the two used water treatment plants of Boracay Water, the Manocmanoc Sewage Treatment Plant that treats up to 5 million liters of used water per day.

Boracay Water started its aggressive campaign to encourage connection to the company’s sewer network in March. To date, about 120 establishments and residences have signified their intention to be connected to the company’s sewer system.

The company is expecting to receive more applications as it has recently standardized the cost for sewer connection even for non-Boracay Water customers within the duration of the closure period.  This will allow more commercial and residential establishments to discharge their wastewater into a reliable sewer system and ensure that wastewater discharges are fully compliant with existing effluent standards of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. More than 500 establishments have yet to be connected in areas where Boracay Water has an established sewer network.

Currently, more than 1,200 establishments and residences are directly connected to Boracay Water’s sewer network. For unsewered areas or areas with no existing sewer network, regular desludging or siphoning services are being done through the company’s desludging trucks which collect wastewater for treatment in the two sewage treatment plants of the Boracay Water located in barangays Manocmanoc and Balabag.

To support the need for the speedy rehabilitation of the island, Boracay Water is accelerating its sewer system projects in accordance with the used water masterplan approved by the Regulatory Office of the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA) to further expand the capacity of its existing wastewater treatment plants and expand its sewer network to immediately connect establishments and residences that continue to discharge their untreated wastewater into drainage lines.

As the leading water and wastewater operator in the Island, Boracay Water is the only service provider in the Island that has worked in close coordination with the Regulatory Office of TIEZA and the various local stakeholder groups to continuously provide and expand centralized wastewater systems in the Island.

With the recent closure of the island, Boracay Water, in coordination with TIEZA and the LGU, is actively reinforcing measures to help identify, detect and eliminate illegal connections and identify establishments releasing untreated wastewater and sub-standard treated water to the government’s drainage or rain water discharge system, causing pollution or heightened coliform levels in the waters of the Island.