The city government and the Davao City Water District (DCWD) are seeking the favorable recommendation of the City Council for the construction of Septage Treatment Plant (SpTP).
This is in connection to City Ordinance No. 0363-10, Series of 2013, otherwise known as the Septage and Sewerage Management Ordinance, which requires the body’s recommendation.
Based on the MOA, the DCWD will bear the entire costs in the construction of the SpTP and will shoulder the operations and maintenance cost of the same.
But the DCWD will impose a Septage Management Fee (SMF) to its consumers.
The measure declares the city would “adopt and implement a comprehensive and integrated septage and sewerage management program, which shall among others, reduce, if not eliminate, the prevalence of waterborne and excreta-related diseases and pollution in bodies of water and encourage greater public-private partnership.”
The establishment of the program aims to reduce the pollution attributed to untreated septage discharge to protect the water resource, to improve water quality, sanitation and public health conditions, and provide efficient and affordable septage desludging services initially to existing DCWD customers.
The City Council is set to discuss the measure, particularly the imposition of the SMF.
Once approved, the SMF will be added to DCWD customers’ monthly water bill that is computed as a uniform price per cubic meter of water consumed. Also, the total monthly basic rate for the first 10 cubic meters of water consumption with the added SMF will not exceed 5% of the average monthly income of the low-income-group families in DCWD’s franchise area.
Meanwhile, for non-DCWD customers, the septage collection and treatment will be handled by DCWD and will be done on a per job order basis where households will pay SMF to DCWD on a “pay-per-service” scheme.
