What’s in your drinking water?
Have you ever thought about how industry cleans its influent water to make it effluent and finally cleaned and treated so you can use it again as safe water? Influent is what you produce at factories and industries that have water discharge in their operations. But you need to treat that through a Waste Water Treatment process before you discharge it to the agencies that then treat the water so it can be fit for human consumption. Yes, the process is geeky but we got to understand it at a recent webinar of Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) which had as our speaker engineer Michieko Sumida-Sibunga from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Environment Management Bureau (DENR-EMB).
Did you know that wastewater is being monitored by DENR-EMB, and there are about 17,000 industries around the country that they look after, to ensure that all effluent water is managed and treated? That ensures that we can then have clean water for everyone to use. It was so interesting to know the different classes of water — from “safe to drink” to “safe to just bathe in” and “safe just to float a boat in.” Imagine the agency trying to monitor these businesses even if all they have is a single toilet facility or one water closet. For as long as you discharge water, you are in the purview of Engineer Sibunga’s department.
She walked us through the challenges of her work because of errant companies may just pay the penalty but still not comply fully with wastewater laws. She gave an extreme example of a restaurant that simply washed knives and had no toilets. But when you wash, you still have wastewater and you have to ensure you find a way to treat it. But the big offenders are really the extractive industries, like mining and electronics manufacturing. Asked what the most dangerous substances are in our wastewater, and she mentioned heavy metals like cadmium, lead, and mercury. Those are toxic for humans and all forms of life.
And this is why we need to prevail upon industry owners and leaders to understand how their business operations can affect our water supply. It is not enough to be able to afford the penalty. What is required is that we attend a Pollution Control seminar as executives — even for just eight hours — to know that our business is responsible enough to treat our wastewater. We actually had her laymanize all the scientific tables which we understood after her brief explanation during the webinar.
There are many laws to protect the environment, and it takes a lot to enforce them because even Local Government Units (LGUS) are involved in the inspection and implementation of the law. We asked: But what if the local executive is involved in the errant company? She smiled and said she may have to get the Philippine National Police (PNP) to help as the DENR has no police power. The DENR simply has the parameters and knowledge of the law and the danger these errant companies can cause to pollute the environment.
Further, some fines have been overtaken by inflation and are now too affordable for companies who do not comply with the law. The laws need to be reviewed so the fines and penalties can be more onerous and painful for offenders. If using the carrot and stick method, with the “stick” being fines and penalties, what are the “carrots”? What are the incentives so companies will comply with the laws? There used to be tax incentives when the law was passed, but these were only good for 10 years. That has long expired, and nothing compels companies to try and comply with cleaning the water they discharge. Except for the moral obligation that CEOs must abide by. If your industry is a pollutant or prospective pollutant because of the nature of your business (manufacturing, electronics, mining, etc.), you should be mindful of the waste water you produce and ensure that you return “cleaned up” or treated water to the system.
So, we ask executives — CEOs and COOs — to attend the enlightening eight-hour seminar of the DENR-EMB along with their Pollution Control Officers (PCOs) so they have a better understanding (and undergo moral suasion) to prevent damage to the environment. This way, our companies will not only be compliant, we can be a more responsible company that sets examples for others. It could also be a competitive advantage once our consumers find out we are not a polluting business, but a caring one.
Ms. Sibunga is hopeful that if more company leaders understood the Water Quality regulations, the more companies will comply, and the DENR will achieve their goal of making sure there is clean water for everyone.
We call upon our legislators as well to look into the penalties which have been rendered affordable by inflation. They are too cheap compared to the damage dirty water can cause to agricultural crops, to the water that goes through our water distributors, and even to our drinking water.
We looked at each other during the webinar because what we had in front of us was bottled water — and why do we drink bottled water? Because we are unsure about the safety of our tap water, and oftentimes establishments need to install filters to make sure our tap water is safe to consume.
We have the laws. In fact, we have a lot of good laws to protect the environment, but enforcement is the challenge for many agencies, including the DENR-EMB. There seems to be a lack of personnel and budget to monitor the growing number of firms whose activities affect our water systems. Maybe with the use of AI and advancement in technology, we may just be able to monitor better and reward those who care and punish those who don’t. In the meantime, take a look at your company and be inspired to do something about it. Remember, the damage you cause may just end up in your own drinking water.
(This article reflects the personal opinion of the author and does not reflect the official stand of the Management Association of the Philippines or MAP.)
Chit U. Juan is the co-chair of the MAP Environment Committee. She is also the chair of the Philippine Coffee Board, Inc. and Slow Food Manila.
