BAGUIO CITY – The City Veterinary Office is pushing for the put up of its own animal waste treatment plant within the premises of the Slaughterhouse Compound to treat waste water coming from the abattoir instead of being treated at the already overloaded Baguio Sewerage Treatment Plant.
City Veterinarian Dra. Brigit Piok said Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan instructed to her to fast-track the preparation of the pertinent project documents so it can be included in the city’s priority projects to be funded from the upcoming supplemental budget of the local government.
She informed fellow department heads that her office is still searching for the applicable technology for treating animal waste apart from that of human waste as the two need different treatments, the latter being treated at the sewage treatment plant.
“We will continue to look for providers of the animal waste treatment plant but we have to make sure we include all their charges to ensure that the proposed budget will be sufficient to complete the project,” Piok stressed.
Earlier, the City Environment and Parks Management Office (CEPMO) recommended cutting off the waste coming from the city’s abattoir from being connected and discharged to the sewage treatment plant as the facility is already overloaded and working over and above its capacity compromising the quality of water being discharged to the Balili River.
According to her, the animal waste from the abattoir is composed mainly of water with hooves and hairs of animals being butchered and even intestines, among other liquid and solid wastes.
Initially, the City Veterinary Office proposed a funding of P12 million for the put up of the animal waste treatment plant within the premises of the city’s abattoir but the final project cost will only be determined as soon as the office finds companies that are experts in providing the needs of the city to effectively and efficiently treat the abattoir wastewater being discharged into the Balili River.
Included in the proposed animal waste treatment plant will be three pools that will require the presence of a sedimentation pool in order to treat the waste water from the abattoir which is the city’s main provider of quality meat products.
Experts from the CVO, CEPMO, and City Buildings and Architecture Office will be visiting local governments with established animal waste treatment plants to assess the feasibility of replicating similar facilities in the city’s abattoir to help mitigate the effects of the increasing volume of wastewater being treated by the sewage treatment plant.
One of the remedial measures recommended by CEPMO that will reduce the volume of wastewater being treated in the sewage treatment plant is to cut off the wastewater from the city’s which is reportedly contributing to the increased load of the plant beyond its prescribed capacity through the years./By Dexter A. See
