Only half of firms with LLDA permits complying with wastewater discharging standards

Only around half of the factories and business establishments with discharge permits from the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) are compliant with the guidelines on proper discharging of wastewater.

The figure came out during the House Committee on Metro Manila Development meeting discussing the status of the LLDA's water filtration project and management, which affects the ecology and the quality of water supply in the metro.

"Based sa ating mga na-issuehan ng permit, around 40 to 50 percent ay hindi nakakapag-comply sa standards," said engineer Emiterio Hernandez, manager of the LLDA's Environmental Regulatory Department.

House panel chair Winston Castelo said the committee called for the meeting after receiving reports that some industrial estates around Laguna de Bay are discharging wastewater "dangerously."

This, he said, may affect the quality of water supply in Metro Manila.

Hernandez said the LLDA has a group of employees dedicated to monitoring the factories and business establishments' compliance with the guidelines of proper wastewater discharging.

He said some of these non-compliant establishments are "quick service restaurants."

Establishments that do not follow these standards are issued a cease and desist order, he said, prompting the LLDA to shut down their source of water pollution.

He said, however, that not all of these non-compliant establishments have been closed down.

Hernandez also admitted that  lack of manpower hinders the LLDA from performing its mandate of monitoring establishments for possible infractions.

"Ang aming staff na nagmo-monitor is less than 20, and they are capable of monitoring less than 5,000 establishments every year," he said.

Castelo said this small number of people would make the job of monitoring non-compliant establishments more difficult for the LLDA.

LLDA covers not only the factories around the mouth of the Laguna de Bay, but also those in Metro Manila whose wastewater are being discharged into the lake.

This brings the number of establishments under LLDA's jurisdiction to about 10,000, Castelo said.

"I am sure with that magnitude of numbers that you are inspecting year in and year out, you will be unable to cover that mandate," he said.

With this, Castelo suggested that some of the LLDA's functions be temporarily transferred to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources' Environmental Management Bureau.

"If it is possible, the DENR issue a department order that could somehow transfer this very important function in the meantime sa inyo [EMB] while Congress is trying to amend the Clean Water Act," he said. — BM, GMA News