Air quality around the Navotas Sanitary Landfill has significantly improved following last month’s fire incident, but water quality monitoring near the facility yielded “not good” results, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said Monday, May 11.

The DENR said monitoring stations in Metro Manila and nearby Bulacan have already stabilized within the “Fair” to “Good” air quality categories as smoke from the landfill fire continued to dissipate.

However, DENR Secretary Juan Miguel Cuna said water sampling results near the landfill showed elevated readings in certain parameters, leading to a notice of violation against landfill operator Philippine Ecology Systems Corp. under the Clean Water Act.

“The sampling results were not good. Which is why they were issued a notice of violation in terms of violation of the Clean Water Act,” Cuna told reporters during a visit at the landfill in Navotas.

The DENR also confirmed that it has issued Notices of Violation to PHILECO for alleged non-compliance with Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) conditions, including failure to submit a mandatory Safe Closure and Rehabilitation Plan, failure to install and maintain air pollution control devices and systems such as insufficient gas vent pipes, failure to comply with daily soil cover requirements under Presidential Decree No. 1586, alleged unauthorized discharges under the Clean Water Act, and failure to complete the Abandonment Plan.

Asked to elaborate, the DENR chief said some parameters exceeded acceptable levels.

“Mataas ang readings of certain parameters (The readings of certain parameters are high). The operator, I was told, submitted a completion paper after the notice of violation, which is being evaluated now,” Cuna said.

“Iyong total suspended solids, ‘yung mga BOD—Biochemical Oxygen Demand (The total suspended solids, the BOD—Biochemical Oxygen Demand),” he added when asked about specific parameters.

Earlier, the agency reported that environmental conditions surrounding the Navotas landfill continue to improve, with real-time monitoring showing a steady decline in particulate matter concentrations in areas such as Caloocan, Navotas, Meycauayan, and Obando.

“The air is clearing, the danger is receding, and the science shows that our communities are safer today than they were at the height of the incident,” Cuna said in a DENR statement.

Cuna also acknowledged the possible impact of poor water quality on marine ecosystems near the landfill.

“I’ll have to check on, but syempre kung hindi maganda ang water quality, consequently, hindi maganda for marine life (I’ll have to check, but of course if the water quality is not good, consequently, it is also not good for marine life),” he said.

Cuna said the DENR’s Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) regional office is now coordinating with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) regarding possible impacts on marine resources.

Meanwhile, the environment department said it continues to coordinate with the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) regarding possible legal action over the landfill incident.

“At the same time, mayroon na pong tuloy-tuloy na ugnayan with the Solicitor General, sila po ang abogado ng pamahalaan, and right now pinag-aaralan po nila lahat ng information that they’ve gotten including mga statements galing sa ibang testigo, at malalaman po natin eventually kung ano ang maifi-file natin kung mayroon man (At the same time, we have continuous coordination with the Solicitor General, who serves as the government’s lawyer, and right now they are studying all the information they have gathered, including statements from other witnesses, and eventually we will know what case may be filed, if any),” he said.

Cuna also stressed that the landfill operator remains responsible for the site’s rehabilitation and safe closure.

“Pero off-hand the obligation of the operator is still there, that they have to do the safe closure and rehabilitation as they have committed to in the ECC (But off-hand, the obligation of the operator is still there, that they have to carry out the safe closure and rehabilitation as they committed to under the ECC),” he said.

“It is their obligation that they have committed to under the ECC,” he added.

As such, the DENR chief disclosed that the agency has already ordered inspections of sanitary landfills and dumpsites nationwide.

“We’ve checked it already. As early as January, may instructions na kami to all regions to validate the operations of all sanitary landfills in the country. Even the dumpsites that are supposed to be closed already, ginagamit pa dahil walang alternative ’yung ibang mga LGU. We had it all checked, we have reports coming in already (We’ve checked it already. As early as January, we already instructed all regions to validate the operations of all sanitary landfills in the country. Even dumpsites that are already supposed to be closed are still being used because some LGUs have no alternative. We had them all checked, and reports are already coming in),” he said.

On April 10, a fire broke out at the Navotas Sanitary Landfill, triggering weeks of smoke emissions and elevated PM2.5 levels across several parts of Metro Manila.