DOST to construct wastewater treatment facility in Davao's abattoir
Published Jul 5, 2018 08:14 am
By Antonio Colina IV
DAVAO CITY -- The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) 11 will help the city government in constructing a vertical helophyte filter system (VHFS), a technology that treats waste water at the city-run Ma-a Slaughterhouse this year.
DOST via Manila Bulletin
DOST 11 director Anthony C. Sales said the agency allocated at least P9 million this year to fund the construction of the VHFS in four areas, including the city-owned abattoir, an urban poor community in the city, and government-supported small and medium enterprise.
A technology already known in Europe, Sales said he asked Dutch water engineer Sean Ligtvoet to customize a VHFS technology that will suit the specific conditions of the prospective users in the city, taking into account, among others, the climate and available local materials to bring down the cost of the facility.
“We had our Dutch expert from Netherlands, a water engineer. He was deployed to DOST Davao and then he had this idea that they have this technology being used by industries already in Europe. I said, ‘Can we try that here in the Philippines? You customize it to our conditions because the conditions there are different – it’s temperate there while we are tropical,” he said.
Sales said the VHFS had been installed in four communal comfort rooms in a coastal community in Bucana area where residents previously lacked access to toilet facilities thereby polluting the sea water.
A report by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that 67.8 % of the households used improved and non-shared toilet facilities while 26.6% of the households used shared sanitation facilities.
“On the other hand, 5% of the households used non-improved sanitation facilities and the remaining 0.8% of the households have open defecation sanitation facilities,” he said.
He said the technology filters out the waste materials and releases significantly clean water into the sea, as it reduces sulfate, nitrate, coliform, and total suspended solids (TSS) by 90 to 95%.
Sales urged the private sector, including households, to adopt the VHFS technology, which would only cost them P90,000 and usable for 25 years unlike a typical septic which costs P10,000 to P15,000 annually for maintenance.
“After 25 years, after all the materials in the filter are spent, meaning it’s already decomposed and holds so much wastes, it can be used as fertilizer,” he said.
“The strategy of DOST is that we are engaging as many stakeholders as possible and we will do it one MSME at a time, one household at a time. In a year, we are targeting 10 to 20 SMEs or establishments that we can help clean the waste water,” he said.
DOST via Manila Bulletin
DOST 11 director Anthony C. Sales said the agency allocated at least P9 million this year to fund the construction of the VHFS in four areas, including the city-owned abattoir, an urban poor community in the city, and government-supported small and medium enterprise.
A technology already known in Europe, Sales said he asked Dutch water engineer Sean Ligtvoet to customize a VHFS technology that will suit the specific conditions of the prospective users in the city, taking into account, among others, the climate and available local materials to bring down the cost of the facility.
“We had our Dutch expert from Netherlands, a water engineer. He was deployed to DOST Davao and then he had this idea that they have this technology being used by industries already in Europe. I said, ‘Can we try that here in the Philippines? You customize it to our conditions because the conditions there are different – it’s temperate there while we are tropical,” he said.
Sales said the VHFS had been installed in four communal comfort rooms in a coastal community in Bucana area where residents previously lacked access to toilet facilities thereby polluting the sea water.
A report by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that 67.8 % of the households used improved and non-shared toilet facilities while 26.6% of the households used shared sanitation facilities.
“On the other hand, 5% of the households used non-improved sanitation facilities and the remaining 0.8% of the households have open defecation sanitation facilities,” he said.
He said the technology filters out the waste materials and releases significantly clean water into the sea, as it reduces sulfate, nitrate, coliform, and total suspended solids (TSS) by 90 to 95%.
Sales urged the private sector, including households, to adopt the VHFS technology, which would only cost them P90,000 and usable for 25 years unlike a typical septic which costs P10,000 to P15,000 annually for maintenance.
“After 25 years, after all the materials in the filter are spent, meaning it’s already decomposed and holds so much wastes, it can be used as fertilizer,” he said.
“The strategy of DOST is that we are engaging as many stakeholders as possible and we will do it one MSME at a time, one household at a time. In a year, we are targeting 10 to 20 SMEs or establishments that we can help clean the waste water,” he said.