From March 15, 2010

On Monday, March 15^th we had a packed vocational day.  This was the only day were the group split up and each of us spent a day with our respected professions.  After meeting at Makati City Hall, I was taken on 3 tours by my guide Kathleen, who worked for the Department of Environment for Makati City.

The day started by taking a tour of a wastewater treatment plant for Makati.  It is a privately owned facility that as of now treats 46% of the sewage for Makati. It was a typical treatment plant; some settling tanks, a chlorine treatment station, and then the water was discharged back into the river.  It is projected by 2018 that 100% Makati will be hooked up to the sewage treatment.  When I asked what the number one pollutant that they treat is, they responded by saying that the shantytowns located along the river is to blame for the horrible water quality.  It was interesting to actually see an area with a real concern.  In that states, I feel that we take our water quality for granted because most of our development is connected to a treatment plant of sorts or has a functional septic system.  It makes me feel like “we” do not truly understand what an environmental issue is and we cannot understand until we see a “real” problem.  The illegal shantytowns pollute the waterways even more so than industry along the river.  With a major effort and partnership with Makati along with the private wastewater treatment plant, the cleanup of the river is possible but we also must remember humanitarian rights and education of the poor is essential.

The next place we visited was an archetecr firm in downtown Makati.  This firm is hired by the city of Makati to plan the urban development for the city limits.  They do urban planning for 33 countries worldwide and strangely enough work along some engineering firms in New Jersey.  In discussing some ideas of how to curb their carbon footprint in Makati I suggest that since a rail system is too costly, that they should look at ways to decline the need for vehicles and enhance bicycle roots throughout Makati.  Makati already has started to replace their Jeepnies with electric Jeepnies, which is great, but the use of bicycles is not doable.  This is because the original planning of the city did not include bicycle roots in their plans when they constructed roadways.  They are not looking at ways to make a sky-walkway throughout the city.  I asked if it would be possible to include a bike lane in the plans of the walkway.  They said no, but he was very receptive of the idea and seemed impressed.  I then went on to explain what a bike share was, at that point, he wanted to hire me, haha.

After a quick lunch we went to an active construction site in downtown Makati.  I was very impressed with this company’s willingness to work with the city government.  The government officials were telling me that they have policy in place but there is no enforcement to go along with the policy.  I asked the onsite engineer if they ever had an issue of the government issuing any violations onsite for environmental issues.  They looked at me with a surprised look in their face and they were puzzled of why I would ask this.  They said they have a social responsibility to keep the environment clean and they want to construct with out impacting the environment.  The head engineers even develop a dust control for high-rise construct that involves a technique that resembles a waterfall  system that you would see at a restaurant.  It involved a giant mesh net that extended about 20 stories and water is pumped to a perforated pipe located at the top of the trickled down.  Then collected at the bottom in a trough and pumped back up.  This reduces dust onsite along with conserving water.  It was a pretty great idea. The only downfall of constriction from what I can see is when asked about their nonpoint pollution controls and they were not too familiar.   He said that the wastewater treatment plant has the controls and that there is no need for it onsite.  I asked Kathleen about this and she said that policy is in the making for new nonpoint pollution. 

Overall, I was impressed with the corporate responsibility and the willingness of these companies to work along side the government in order to have a more sustainable society.  Again, when you have real issues and real concerns, it takes small steps to achieve major goals.  The Philippines seem to be on the right path to achieve their goals.