Improvements of Waterways in the Philippines

Improvements of Waterways in the Philippines1.0 cornerstoneFor too long the weeweeways of the Philippines digest been grossly contaminated through activities including interior(prenominal) uses, industrial discharges, stormwater run-off, discharge of un accomplished sewerage, recreational activities and the corresponding. It has been recognised that for the health and synthetic rubber of both the people of the Philippines and the protection of the surround for our future generations it is necessary that a system be realised to commence the enormous task of locomote our waterways to a quality that complies if not surpasses international standards. Water everywhere is a very valuable commodity and an essential piece in sustaining life. For this precedent we essential act as a community to ensure that we heel counter our waterways bandaging to a standard we cigarette be proud of. For this dry land DENR will embark on a strategy which has one bushel objective which is t oCLEAN UP THE WATERWAYS OF THE PHILIPPINESThis discussion document put forwards a design outline on items that should be cut intoed if the objective of card-playinging up the waterways of the Philippines is to be realised.2.0 WATERWAYS HIERARCHYIn whatsoever strategy it is imperative that there atomic number 18 some(prenominal) options available to the community to change them to successfully implement the strategy and gum olibanum achieve the objective. So in summarising some of the objectives DENR will consider the use of a waterways hierarchy as shown on a lower floor. The waterways hierarchy simply describes the choice of options with avoidance being the ultimate option and disposal being the to the lowest degree favourable. This analogy is based on the international standards for wiseer proceedsion and bollocks minimisation which ultimately encourage that generating no uncivilised is better than managing the waste that is generated.WATERWAYS HIERARCHYAVOIDANCE (P REFERRED)REUSE/RECYCLINGTREATMENTDISPOSAL (LEAST PREFERRED)In preparing these options stipulation was given towards how these could be applied against a waterways hierarchy and the practicalities of implementing the options with reckon to social, financial and environmental indicators.3.0 STRATEGY OPTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS3.1 Regulatory FrameworkThe Philippines already has established several regulations pertaining to the management of waterways and the required quality that needs to be achieved by Industry and the community to ensure the waterways are protected. However, consideration needs to be given towards streng consequentlying this legislation by addressing the followingTrade profligacy solicitude (licensing and user pays system for industry discharging to the potage system)LitteringSewage coif discharge into inland and coastal waterways concern of Sewage honks and unauthorised dischargesalgal bloom and nutrient management strategyHeavy fines for offendersMandatory m onitorEstablishment of Key Performance Indicators and G overnment targets for wastewater recycling and reuse.The supra are single a few items that need to be considered in greater detail in order to ensure that the regulatory manakin is in place to oblige the community to implement and continue to honour with the strategy.3.2 Education, Training and Community AwarenessTechnology alone cannot solve each(prenominal) fusss. In order for this strategy to be successful it must assume obtained ownership from the community. They must be aware of their obligations with respect to the waterways hierarchy and we must tell the Philippines community how it can add up towards the break up-up of the waterways.This will involve teaching programs both at a junior school level to engrain the grandeur of waterways and keeping them readable to ensure that the future generations avoid the mistake of reverting to the old ways. The education programs need to also include local communities and industries so that they can see that there is a better way and that throwing that composition on the ground, or discharging untreated sewage in the river will disembowel their life worse. We need to educate our community to demand a exalteder(prenominal) quality of life especially in relation to waterways and show them the benefits that a clean waterway can deliver. Things like better health, no funky smell, increased tourism, better aesthetics, improve economic development and the like.Training environmental practitioners and industry leaders that pollution is bad business and that whatsoever cast away or in take away discharge into a waterway will have ramifications not only for the local environmental officer but for the superior officers of the company. These ramifications can include increased fines, bad publicity and in extreme point situations imprisonment.Community awareness through targeted advertising campaigns could also get the meat out. Adopting a community si dereal twenty-four hours once a year where the livelong of Philippines gets together to clean up the waterways and the environment can achieve blatant success and community pride that we all got together to improve our lives. Programs like these have been successfully utilize international such as Clean up Australia. There is no moderateness why there cannot be a clean-up Philippines.3.3 Source Elimination AvoidanceThe first point in the waterways hierarchy is avoidance. This means removing polluting dischargers from the waterway itself. This includes industrial dischargers that are putting the industrial waste directly into inland waterways. Where the avoidance of the discharge cannot be achieved and then industry should be required to ensure that the quality, through recycling and discussion at the discharge, meets strict discharge criteria.Avoiding the discharge of untreated sewage whether it is from otiose wastewater treatment plants or direct discharge from the communi ty. These inputs must be avoided or eliminated from being discharged into waterways as they can destroy a river system, generate unwanted odours, spread undesirable disease and the like.3.4 Sewerage ManagementOne of the issues faced in the Philippines is the difficulty of laying appealingness and sewer pipe infrastructure to enable wastewater in the form of sewage to be collected to a central location for treatment and disposal. For this reason it is essential that a number of options become available that can causal agent the varying topography and provincial needs of the Philippines. This can be achieved in both waysLocalised treatment plants that manage localised extends typically from 2.5KL/day to 40KL/dayMedium sized Membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology typically from 40KL/day to 500KL/dayCentralised wastewater systems based on MBR technology for areas where collection and laying pipe infrastructure is relatively easy. Examples of such plants are shown to a lower placeLoca lised wastewater treatment plants CWTMedium sized Plants epic MBR treatment plants (45ML/Day)Typical effluent qualityThe quality of the treated water from these treatment plants will enable reuse of this water for flushing t cover colorets, irrigation, and industrial reuse and other non-consumption activities.3.5 Storm Water Run-off ManagementThere are several issues associated with the run-off and discharge of stormwater. These issues include collection of litter, oil and grease and other contaminants from roadways that then is discharged into the river system. Stormwater can also cause hydraulic overload and consequently wash away sand and silt into the river. The silt and sand could adjudge heavy metals or other contaminants that will ultimately end up in the sediments of the river bed potentially creating undesirable conditions for aquatic species. Furthermore, the discharge of high levels of nitrogen collected from fertilisers and other mistakable processes will run-off int o the river system and this contribute to the toxicity or provide adapted conditions for Algal Blooms to form.To alleviate this problem source control of run-off is essential. This will be a combination of improved infrastructure, stormwater capture and treatment of stormwater before discharge into the river. This has to be managed in soft of stormwater hydraulics especially as many parts of the Philippines are subordinate to severe flooding. So treatment of say the first flush of stormwater aft(prenominal) which the water is discharged directly to the river system bypassing the treatment. This option will treat the most contaminated portion of the stormwater but not restrict flow substantially to become a further cause of flooding.In flavor at stormwater treatment there are four considerations, these are pr howevertion, at source control, in-line structures and wetland/flood plains. Unfortunately not one of these systems in closing off can solve all the problems so wach syste m must be implemented in synergy.Some mitigation options that can be implemented includeGrate and entrance screensSide entry pit traps woolly-headed pitsLitter collection basketsBoom diversion systemsRelease netsTrash racks bring in pollutant trapCircular screensFloating Debris TrapsSome guinea pigs of these systems are shown belowCleaning is the most important issue in the utilisation of these systems and adequate maintenance programs need to form part of the strategy of installing any form of Stormwater treatment and management system.3.6 Emergency Response and Spill ManagementIn any strategy that discusses the clean-up of waterways there must be an element to handle the unforseen spillage that do occur on a ceaseless basis. The issue facing DENR is how it can become aware of these and how to implement appropriate mitigation options to protect human health and the environment from such events.It is therefore imperative that a system will be established that ensures that spillage s to the environment are reported, that there is a plan for containment and that this containment can then provide enough time to determine an appropriate response for the economic clean up of the spill. Too oft in emergency response companies and regulators bearing to throw all options towards the resolution of such events that the end result is often created a larger problem than the spill itself. A classic example of this is when dispersants are being used for the management of oil spills. The dispersant has really only one option, alter the surface tension of water so as to make the oil miscible with the water and thus render the oil spill out of mind out of site. In reality what dispersants do is prolong the inevitable that is contamination of sea beds and shore lines. In near all situations the oil spill will require more clean up at the shoreline due to the fact that waterway conditions have changed and the oil is now no longer miscible thus creating a similar situation se veral kilometres away from the original spill location.Thus any emergency response management system needs to deal with spill prevention, containment and removal not dilution. An example of alternative oil spill product that can be used instead of dispersants is Cleanmag. This product is briefly enlarge belowCleanMag is an oil sorbing material in the form of magnetic granules. It is a porous material so the oil is absorbed upon contact with the CleanMag materials at ratios of 16 (1 CleanMag 6 oil by weight). Due to a magnetic interaction all granules stay together forming a crust, which floats even after the oil has been absorbed and can be collected before the spill reaches the shoreline. In cases where the material does reach the coastline, the oil does not passing water out due to strong cohesion onto the CleanMag, thus eliminating the devastating environmental impacts normally associated with oil spills reaching sensitive coastlines.The material and oil can be collected even d ays after CleanMag has been dispersed over the spill (by aerial or naval means), by using a magnetic conveyor belt or electromagnetic cranes mounted onto the pile up vessel (i.e. ship or tug). Should the oil spill extend to a large surface area CleanMag can be sprayed on the boarders of the spill, thus creating a barrier and preventing oil dispersion.This helps slow down the rate of intricacy of the surface of the spill and therefore creates more time for the clean up operation to be conducted. This time is important as it can enable more innovative recovery options that are less costly to the hooker and furthermore minimize environmental penalties associated with such spillages, as the impact on the environment and communities is minimized.3.7 Sediment clean-upFinally after the sources of pollution have been contained and managed consideration should then be given to dredging the sediments of the waterways with a view to removing the contaminants that have accumulate over sever al years. The final steps is necessary as the benefits of discharging clean high quality water that into the waterways system from the source control options mentioned in the beginning will not be realised. The reason for this is that the sediments will release contaminants and soil the clean water. By cleaning these sediments it provides and opportunity for the life to return back to the waterway, free of pollution.So as a proud community lets CLEAN-UP THE WATERWAYS OF THE PHILIPPINES.