CALABARZON

Proposed sanitary landfill in Alitagtag passes Geosciences Bureau inspection

By Carlo P. Gonzaga

Monday 9th of July 2012

ALITAGTAG, Batangas, July 9 (PIA) -- Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) Calabarzon recently confirmed the proposed sanitary landfill site located in Barangay San Juan, this municipality, as suitable for a sanitary landfill facility (SLF).

MGB Region 4A geologists conducted a geological assessment of the proposed facility in response to the request of Alitagtag municipal councilor Edilberto G. Ponggos, chairman of the Committee on Environment and Municipal Environment and Natural Resources officer Sofronio P. Catanyag.

All local government units (LGUs) are obligated to identify and acquire land areas for municipal solid waste disposal facilities, in accordance with R.A. 9003 otherwise known as the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.

Municipal officials were compelled to seek technical assistance from MGB to comply with Section 7.2 of DENR Administrative Order No. 98-49, which provides that all independent components and first-class cities and municipalities are required to upgrade all their existing controlled dump sites into sanitary landfill facilities by March 2006.

Said environmental law also mandates the Bureau, together with its various regional offices all over the country, to extend technical assistance to LGUs in the evaluation and assessment of the technical viability and geological suitability of certain land properties identified or proposed by LGUs as potential sites for municipal solid waste disposal facilities.

The site of the proposed sanitary landfill facility that will be purchased by the LGU has an area of about 13,000 square meters.

Ideally, landfills should not be located within 100 meters of an unstable area or major geologic structure. Since the nearest major geologic structure is found several kilometers north of the project site, fault-related or seismic hazards due to fault movement would not affect the proposed facility. Moreover, the terrain of the area is generally rolling which is a good attribute for the establishment of a sanitary landfill.

The proposed SLF site identified by the LGU was therefore validated as a suitable "sanitary landfill facility" site based on the assessment of its geology, topography and hydrological conditions. (MGB4A/CPG-PIA4A)