Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized !l~~~~L4 X--~~~~~~~~~~!K a.S;_,s,';,XB I Republicof the Philippines Local Water Utilities Administration SEWERAGEAND SANITATION PROJECT WATERDISTRICT DEVELOPMENT PROJECT WORLDBANK ENVIRONMENTAL LUZON ASSESSMENT REPORT CAGAYANDE ORO CITY MINDANAO CAGArANDEORO August1997 I TABLE OF CONTENTS Page EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 12 Chapter 2 BASELINE ENVIRONMENT - CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY 16 Section I Existing Environment 16 Section II Environmental Pollution 20 Chapter 3 PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVES 27 Section I Project Rationale and Objectives 27 Section II Sanitation 27 Section III Overall Sewerage Scheme 30 Section IV Recommended Project Design for Cagayan de Oro City 41 Section V No Project Scenario 44 Chapter 4 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS 47 Section I Beneficial Impacts of the Project 47 Section II Project Implementation Impacts 49 Section III Summary 51 Chapter 5 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN 52 Section I Mitigation Plan 52 Section II Monitoring Plan 54 Section III Implementing Arrangements 55 Appendices 1. Bibliography 2. Climatological Normals ( 1961-1995) 3. Typical Noise Emissions of Construction Equipment 4. Expected Noise Levels at Various Distances from Construction Equipment 5. EnvironimenitalQualitv Standards For Noise Maximum Allowable Noise Levels 6. The Advanced Integrated Pond Svstem (AlPS) of Wastewater Treatment IlvIrrfllh'1f1 ta/ . I.xcs%sesentrRepoti: ( cgavanOdr)ru ( 'It' I I EXECUTIVE SUIqMARY Introduction In the Philippines,the typical urban area/built-uparea is characterizedby a heavy concentration of activities,both commercialand industrial. It is also the area where the density of population is at its highest. These areas are also the sites where the production and consumption of raw and processed materialscould be found. Consequentlythe, pressure on the hfe support systemsin these areas are far higher than the suburbanand rural areas. Adverse environmental conditionssuch as the generation and similarlythe dischargeof wastes into the environmentis common in urban and built-up areas. Unfortunately,the amount, type and concentrationof waste generated exceed the capacity of the local environmentto absorb and assimilatethem The carying capacity ofthe life support systemsare stretched to the limits. The urgency of establishingcollection and treatment methods to prevent adverse impacts to the health and well-beingof the residents, and to the ecologicalsystems which sustain them cannot be ignored and overstated. Most urban centers in the Philippines rely on individual septic tank systems for the treatment and disposal of wastewater from domestic and commercial buildings. However. the designs for such systems is often inadequate. Facilities for land disposal of effluents from the septic tanks are generally absent. Hence, the partially treated septic tank effluents flow directly into storm drainage systems and other receiving bodies of water, thereby exacerbating an already grave pollution situation. There are several possible options for addressing this problem, including improving the design of the septic tank system with the installation of soil absorption systems. But an environmentally sound alternative that is cost-effective and captures economies of scale is to connect individual properties directly to a sewerage system for the collection, treatment and disposal of the urban wastes. The provision of a cost-effectivecentralized wastewater collection.treatment, and disposalis the primary objective of the proposed Water Districts Development Project.The proposed project will assist tle local governmentunits (LGUs) of Dagupan City, Calamba(in Laguna). Cagayan de Oro City. Davao City and Cotabato City. in findingsolutions to the problem of sanitation. Financingassistance willbe partly provided by the World Bank (WB) which shall be conduited through the Land Bank ofthe Philippines(LBP). Over-all administrationwill be exercisedbv LBP's Project ManageinenitOffice (PMO) with technical support provided by the Central Sewerage and Sanitatioi Pr-ogramSupport Office(CPSO) of the Local Water Utilities Administration(LWUA!. ]L/7VI)UflfllC?17 1I/ s ?ent7fsi n. Rcpurr ( 4/g'll Cie O() 0 ( 111 better sanitary conditions will thus be achieved in the areas served by the sewerage and sanitation systems. This will reduce water-borne pollution and water-logging within the cities and in the surrounding water bodies, thereby bringing health benefits to local populations. The construction of the systems will protect shallow groundwater aquifers from contamination. Environmental Assessment Requirements This EnvironmentalImpact AssessmentReport for Cagayande Oro has been prepared in accordance with the Presidential Decree No. I586 otherwiseknovwn as the Environmental Impact AssessmentLaw and Department of Environmentand Natural Resources (DENR) Revised Administrative Order Nos. 36, the Revised Water Usageand Classification/Water Quality Criteria and Revised Effluent Regulations of 1990 respectively;and WorldBank's OperationalDirective 4.01 on EnvironmentalAssessment. The revised Administrative Order 36 for Environmental Impact Statement System issued in 1996 is comprehensive and is compatible with the World Bank's Operational Directive 4.01. It outlines the procedure to be followed by environmental critical projects (ECPs) and projects to be located in environmental critical areas (ECAs). in preparing environmental impacts statement (EISs)'. ECP and ECA are defined in the AO. It should also be noted that that local ordinances and regulationsgoverning projects of such nature have been taken into considerationin preparingthis report. SimilarEIA reports are beingprepared for the other 4 cities. This report has been prepared by a team of local consultantsunder the aegis of the LWUA and the Cagayan de Oro City Government. Much of the work relatingto the environmentalimpact analvsiswas undertaken as part of the feasibilitystudy done by C. Lotti and Associati Consultationwith the communityis an on-goingprocess. The sanitationcomponent of the project willbe executed in a participatorymanner, and detailedguidelines have been spelled out. Selection of Priority Cities The choice of the first batch of Philippine cities for sewerage investments was made after an initial screening at the national level of urban areas facing the most serious problem of pollution by untreated wastes. Of the five cities. Davao and Cagayan de Oro represent the largest class of provincial cities with current population estimates in the range of a million and half a million respectively. There are several major population concentrations in the city - each being a source of sewage contamination for nearby surface and ground water. Hovwever.the largest volume of sewage is generated by the largest consumers of piped water supply: in the Central Business District or Poblacion area. Untreated wastewater from this area has polluted low-lying coastal areas, and basically converted the principal nivers into open sewers. The scale of the pollution problem can be appreciated by the fact that about 90 per cent of the daily water supply of 140,000 cubic meters in Davao city and This is the term used by DENR and refers to the standard Environmental Assessment Report required by the World bank as per OD 4.01 1i Inrj,e1 iitul .11.X0WN.IC/7 71f,,,R I1. ( cItgu in (fi,' ()iC., Ci1( 2 76.000 cubic meters in Cagayan de Oro is being discharged as untreated or undertreated wastewater. Outside the Poblacion areas, there are pockets of population concentrations polluting nearby streams, creeks and drainage channels. In the other three cities of medium size (Cotabato City, Calamba and Dagupan City), current population estimates are close to 200,000. While the scale of urban pollution problems are not comparable with Davao and Cagayan de Oro, these cities are located close to environmentally sensitive wetlands and water bodies. In Cotabato City, the urban area is actually below the mean sea level, exposing inhabitants to frequent flooding and waterlogging during the monsoon months. Calamba is located on the shores of Laguna Lake, v uichhas experienced a rapid deterioration in water quality over the last two decade! Dagupan city is close to a large estuarine zone with ecologically sensitive wetlands and fishponds. In each of these cities, Mayors and city officialshave recognized for some time that unless their complex environmental problems are tackled through a strategic plan of handling waste disposaL sustainability of urban growth could be seriously affected. Overall Project Approach The proposed project follows a demand-based approach in the sense that facilities will be constructed only if they conform with the preferences of local stakeholders, and services conform to their respective willingnessto pay. The stakeholders represent the different tiers of organizations from the City or Municipal Council and Barangay (part of the formal LGU system), to the more informal purok, neighborhood and household levels. During project preparation, the idea of involving communities in the planning process was field- tested in three barangays of Davao city, and found to be quite successful. The basic decision-making process is as follows: For the capital-intensive trunk system, consisting of the main transportation sewers. prinary drains and wastewater treatment facilities, the project design and implementation plan has to be approved by the City Council, because