Tagbilaran City Mayor Dan Lim will field middle this week a composite team to inspect the establishments which were earlier reported to have illegally tapped to the newly completed P45-million drainage project along Carlos P. Garcia Avenue, this city.

He said the inspection team will be led by the City Health Office under Dr. Antonio Porticos.

The inspection comes with the arrival here of Engr. Cecil Corloncito, an ISO-accredited environment officer who is based abroad. He is hired as consultant on environment by the city government in the wake of the clamor to put up a water treatment facility aimed to ensure the cleanliness of water to be released through the new drainage project. The new system is contained in a 1.5 x 2 meter box culvert which is a lot bigger than the old system which was only using a 36-inch pipe.

Lim warned whoever of these 39 establishments which do not have septic tanks will "suffer the consequence of the law."

The mayor's warning came after the city government has been blamed for the non-implementation of a basic requirement to disconnect these tapped sewerage outlets to the new drainage system.

It maybe recalled the city's multi-million drainage system was added to the road concreting project of Gov. Erico Aumentado upon the insistence of the city mayor when the Bohol Circumferential Road Project reached the city's main highway last year.

When contacted for comments, Jimmy Chua, project manager of the drainage system who is working under the Philippine Japan Highway Project, in a long distance interview from Manila said it should be the local government unit to unplug the sewerage connections attached to the drainage system. He recalled that these establishments illegally tapped their connections while the project was in progress.

"The city government holds the police power to order its disconnection, since the DPWH was only implementing the project" he stressed.

The city was alarmed on the drainage issue last week when a report aired by dyRD's "Inyong Alagad" program confirmed that the drainage outfall at the city shorelines, fronting the Tagbilaran City Port was opened despite the absence of a water treatment facility.

DPWH District Engr. Celestino Adlaon confirmed that per clearance from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), he allowed the drainage to drop to its outfall but with the necessary "filter" of sand bags placed in order to prevent the release of pollutants to the seawater.

The clamor to have the water treatment facility remains a top city concern since the clear blue seawaters at the City Port will get affected once the drainage outfall will bring in polluted waste from the city's drainage system which carries along the sewerage from the more than 30 establishments.

These business firms and some residential houses have their sewerage connections tapped to the city drainage system since the start of the drainage project more than a year ago.

The local DPWH confirmed that the opening of the outfall was just for few days, as cleared by the DENR here.

"OPEN DRAINAGE OUTLET"

The city government's environmental consultant recommends the opening of the city drainage outfall while the construction of a multi-million water treatment facility has yet to materialize.

Engr. Cecil Corloncito told the Chronicle yesterday that pollution is much worse if waste water remain clogged up in the sewers compared to temporarily discharging it to Tagbilaran bay.

The consultant explained that seepage of waste water into the ground pose a greater environmental threat than having the drainage flow out directly into the sea.

An international consultant on the environment, Corloncito clarified that there is a dilution effect of the seawater on sewage water.

On the other hand, stagnant waste water at the drainage network is a health hazard, he said.

Flooding is another problem during heavy rains if the outfall remains closed, Corloncito added.

The city's drainage overflows during a few minutes of rainfall as the waterways are already heavily silted, explained District 1 engineer Celestino Adlaon.

According to Corloncito, opening the outfall had been his recommendation to the Sangguniang Panlungsod when he was called up for consultation last February.

"Opening the drainage outlet has lesser adverse effects to the environment," he said.

Corloncito said there are levels of effluence that is acceptable to Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) standards.

"I am just wondering why until now the DPWH or the DENR has not conducted a study to analyze the quality of waste water clogged up in the drainage, while there are already public pronouncements that it is harmful to the marine environment if discharged to the sea," he said.

"These are just generic pronouncements since they have not shown any data," he said.

He said the DENR or the DPWH has no basis to make such statements if there is no water analysis made.

The discharge of wastewater will be temporary while the water treatment plant has yet to be built.

The consultant bared that he has initiated a water analysis and sampling in different areas and already submitted samples to a laboratory in Manila accredited by DENR.

Corloncito said he expects the laboratory results soon. When the results are out, it will be the time that the extent of pollution can be established the waste water can bring to the sea, he said.

The water samples were alternately taken during rainy and dry days, he said, so that the lessening effect of pollution can be determined.

According to Corloncito, currently the city government's involvement in the project is very limited since it is still a property of DPWH as implementor of the national government funded project.

The city consultant however assured that City Hall is committed to provide a water treatment facility.

Corloncito said the treatment plant can be accommodated in the area where the outfall is located.

He said the design is already finished and he is just waiting for the mechanics of the project implementation including the funding needed to build the facility.

The city consultant estimates the project could cost some P100-million, depending on the volume of water coming from the city drainage and the level of effluence.

LOT OWNER THREATENS CLOSURE

The owner of the lot where the outfall is located, former OIC-governor Victor Dela Serna has threatened to close down the excavation on his property if the city government will not construct a treatment plant.

Dela Serna said that, in agreeing with the excavation on his property, he required that the outfall will only allow surface water and not commercial or household wastewater.