The Baguio City Hall. The city government of Baguio is hoping to have a coordinated action with the Baguio Water District to address the city’s wastewater problems, Vice Mayor Faustino Olowan said on Friday (Oct. 31, 2025). (PNA file photo by Liza T. Agoot)
BAGUIO CITY – The city government and the Baguio Water District (BWD) are set to collaborate for the implementation of wastewater management services to protect public health, safeguard the environment, and comply with sanitation and environmental standards.
This came as a result of the passage of Resolutions 695-2025 requesting Mayor Benjamin Magalong to form a technical working group (TWG) that would draft a memorandum of agreement with the BWD, and Resolution 696-2025 requesting the utillity firm to conduct a study and seek assistance from the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA) for the possible funding of the upgrade of the city’s outdated Sewerage Treatment Plant (STP).
“We passed both resolutions to address the wastewater issue of Baguio. We are confident that the necessary actions will be undertaken to solve the problems,” Vice Mayor Faustino Olowan said in a phone interview on Friday.
He added that both measures passed last Monday aim to improve the wastewater and address the problem of the pollution of the Balili River in neighboring La Trinidad, which might result in penalties against the city government.
Olowan said that under Presidential Decree 198, local water districts, such as the BWD, are mandated to provide potable water supply and also operate wastewater disposal systems.
Councilor Peter Fianza, however, said that a LWUA circular issued in 2012 also requires all water districts to prepare and implement septage management programs by 2020, which the BWD still has not complied with.
Fianza said that 80 percent of the water distributed by the BWD eventually becomes wastewater, and therefore, the BWD cannot detach itself from the problem.
He emphasized that in the absence of a wastewater management program, coordination between the city and the BWD is urgent, as required by law.
He said that the city government’s pending wastewater disposal system remains a problem, especially with the STP rehabilitation put on hold for lack of funding. This puts the city government at risk of being penalized for draining its wastewater into the Balili River.
Meanwhile, the BWD said it is focused solely on water production and distribution and that the agency is also waiting for the city’s plan to rehabilitate the STP before formulating its own program on wastewater management. (PNA)
