Situation of Industrial Wastewater Regulationin the Philippines
Vicente B. Tuddao, Jr. Ph.DCareer Executive Service Officer IV
Assistant Regional Director for Technical Services/Director III
Department of Environment and Natural Resources
MIMAROPA Region, Philippines
Engr. Erlinda A. Gonzales
Technical Officer
Department of Environment and Natural Resources
National Capital Region

WEPA International Workshop
February 06, 2020
BangkokTHE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES PROFILE• There are a total of 1,003,111 businessenterprises operating in the country. Of
these, 998,342 (99.52%) are MSMEs
and 4,769 (0.48%) are large enterprises.
Micro enterprises constitute 88.45%(887,272)
oftotalMSME
establishments, followed by small
enterprises at 10.58% (106,175) andmedium enterprises at 0.49% (4,895)(Philippine Statistics Authority, 2018)

THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES PROFILE• There are a total of 820,253 industrial
establishments (based on 18 industry type)throughout the country, wherein 60% arelocated within the Manila Bay Region(Metro Manila, Region 3, and Region 4A).
Of
thesenumber
112,789
aremanufacturing industries.
• Main manufacturing industries are pulp andpaper mills, sugar mills, alcohol distilleries,
food processing, plastic and consumer
goods, copper smelter, glass plant, steelmills, cement plant, electronics assembly,aerospace, textiles, petroleum refining andshipbuilding.

Source: Nat’l Water Quality Status Report, EMB (Based on BOD loadings)

Brief Overview of the Situation of Industrial Wastewater
Management in the Philippines• As of October 2017, there are 370 operating special economic
zones in the Philippines; 261 Information Technology Parks, 74
Manufacturing Economic Zones, 22 Agro-Industrial EconomicZones, 20 Tourism Economic Zones and 2 Medical Tourism
Centers. Four of these are owned by PEZA while the remaining
are privately-owned.
• Ideally, the process wastewater and other non-domestic wastewater
are pre-treated by industries before discharging the effluent into thesewerage system of the industrial park.

• The centralized wastewater treatment facility (CWTF) within theindustrial park shall further treat the effluent from industries
before discharging it into bodies of water or reuse for landscaping,irrigation or other purposes• Industries not located within an industrial park, effluent mustcomply with the Philippine Effluent Standards, DAO 2016-08• Recent regulations on nutrients have been a challenge for CWTF,
operators as existing treatment systems are not designed toremove nutrients such as nitrates and phosphates to the levels
required• Many industrial parks operate their own however, these are stillrequired to comply with pre-treatment effluent standards
established by the industrial park before discharge into theCWTF of the park.

• With respect to industrial wastewater, individual companies haveobligations to manage their wastewater either as stand-alone entities or as
part of an industrial park.
• There has been some difficulty in industrial wastewater management sinceproper treatment of wastewater is assigned to individual industries thathave to develop their own expertise to comply with effluent standards set
either by the special economic zone they are operating in or with generaleffluent standards.
• The volume of wastewater generated by an industry highly depends on its
technical level of process and on its production rate

• Industries that are known to generate large amount of wastewater arefood and dairy manufacturing, pulp and paper products and textileproducts.

• Data on the volume of wastewater generated by the industries are very
limited in the Philippines. While individual companies do collect andreport their wastewater volume data as required by the regulations, there
is no national database collating all these data.
• Individual industrial facilities, outside of special economic zones, need toacquire a wastewater discharge permit and are responsible for the qualityof their discharge to surface waters.

• The majority of the manufacturing industries in the Philippines arelocated in the National Capital Region (30 percent), Region 4A Calabarzon (17 percent) and Region 3 - Central Luzon (11 percent).
From the monitoring conducted by the EMB, rivers of the mentioned
regions had “unsatisfactory ratings” for their water quality criteria• In areas of regulation, in the Manila Bay Area alone, 5,228 out of 10,168
industries were served with Notices of Violation (NOV) for failure toacquire permits to discharge treated wastewater

References:
ARCOWA 2018.Wastewater Management and Resource Recovery in the Philippines: Current status and opportunities. GEF, UNDP, PEMSEA
Environmental Management Bureau. 2014. National Water Quality Status Report. 2006-2013

Estimated Wastewater Generation Rate Per Industry
Relative to the Size of Operation*
Industry

Wastewater volume
from industrial use(‘processwastewater’)(m3/day)

Industry

Wastewater volume
from industrial use(‘processwastewater’)(m3/day)

Poultry processing
plant

1,750

Manufacture of
Ethanol

3,100

Meat and meatproducts

75-380

Sugarcane Milling

100,000

Mining67,500

Manufacture of
Beverages

13,000

Manufacture ofpharmaceutical

50-200

Packaging

60

Manufacture of milk

960

Food Processing

500

Processing of
Pineapple Plant

6,540*ARCOWA 2018.Wastewater Management and Resource Recovery in the Philippines: Current status and opportunities. GEF, UNDP, PEMSEA

Indicative Values of Wastewater Quality in Selected Industries in the Philippines*Industry

BOD (mg/L)

COD(mg/L)

TSS(mg/L)

Sugarcane milling

2,000-3,500

6,000

800 – 1,000

Manufacture ofethanol

60,000110,000

Canning of fish
products

30,000

Manufacture ofbeverages

Temp(deg C)pH-

6.5 - 8.0

6,000

48-50

4 - 4.5

45,00010,70025

6.5 -7.5

900

1,500

250

25

11 - 12Meat processing

1,000 – 1,500

2,000250-7Copper Cathode--

43

30.4

8.152,000- 4,200

4,000 –
5,429

1,600 –
5,380--400

1,647.05

90

32.2

8.35

Manufacturing of
6,000- 10,000
Desiccated Coconut

17,00020,000

2,000 –
4,000-

5.0-6.3

Pineapple
Processing Plant

20,000585

40-50

4.5-6.5

Swine Farm
Bottling Services

10,200*ARCOWA 2018.Wastewater Management and Resource Recovery in the Philippines: Current status and opportunities. GEF, UNDP, PEMSEAPHILIPPINE CLEAN WATER ACT OF 2004
(Republic Act No. 9275)
Provides For A Comprehensive and Integrated Strategyto prevent and minimize pollution through a Multi-Sectoraland participatory approach involving all the stakeholders.
The Clean Water Act Applies To:• Water quality management in all water bodies.
• Abatement and control of pollution fromland-based sources.
• Enforcement of water quality standards,regulations and penalties.

PHILIPPINE CLEAN WATER ACT OF 2004
(Republic Act No. 9275)

To control wastewater discharges, DENR has enforced
the Wastewater Discharge Permitting System• All Owners Or Operators Of Facilities That Discharge
Regulated Effluents Shall Secure Wastewater Discharge
Permit (DP).

• DP is the legal authorization granted by the DENR todischarge wastewater into a water body.
• The DENR Implements Wastewater Charge System (WCS) in all
Management Areas and Regional Industrial Centers through theCollection of Wastewater Charges/Fees.

DENR ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 2016-08(An amendment of DAO 1990-35)

WATER QUALITY GUIDELINES AND GENERAL
EFFLUENT STANDARDS OF 2016

Discharges from any point source shall at all times meet theeffluent standards
The GES shall be used regardless of theindustry category and volume of discharge
DAO 2016- 08 has also provision for the water classificationof water bodies for the purpose of maintaining thequality of water based on beneficial usage.

Water Body Classification and Usage of Freshwaters(Rivers, Lakes)

Classification
Class AAAAA

Intended Beneficial Use

Public Water Supply Class I – Intended
primarily for waters having watersheds, which
are uninhabited and otherwise protected, andwhich require only approved disinfection tomeet the Philippine National Standards for
Drinking Water (PNSDW)
Public Water Supply Class II – For sources ofwater supply requiring conventional treatment(coagulation, sedimentation, filtration anddisinfection) to meet the latest PNSDWWater Body Classification and Usage of Freshwaters (Rivers, Lakes)
ClassificationBC

Beneficial Use

Recreational Water Class I – intended forprimary contact recreation (bathing, swimming,skin diving, etc.)• Fishery Water for the propagation andgrowth of fish and other aquatic resources• Recreational Water Class II (Boating, fishingor similar activities)• For agriculture, irrigation, and livestockwatering)Effluent Standards (DAO 2016-08)
Parameter

Class AClass BClass CClass D

Ammonia as NH3-N,mg/L

0.5

0.5

0.5

7.5

BOD5,mg/L

203050120

Boron, mg/L

22312

Chloride, mg/L

350

350

450500

COD, mg/L

6060

100200Color, TCU

100100150300

Cyanide as Free Cyanide,
mg/L

0.14

0.14

0.20.4Fluoride, mg/L

2224

Effluent Standards (DAO 2016-08)Parameter

Class AClass BClass CClass D14141430

6.0-9.0

6.0-9.0

6.0-9.5

5.5-9.5

Phosphate, mg/L

11110Selenium, mg/L

0.02

0.02

0.04

0.08

Sulfate, mg/L

500

500

550

1,000

Surfactants (MBAS), mg/L

231530Temperature(h) °C change

3333Total Suspended Solids,
mg/L

7085

100150

Nitrate as NO3-N, mg/L
pH (Range)Effluent Standards (DAO 2016-08)
Parameter

Class AClass BClass CClass D

Arsenic, mg/L

0.02

0.02

0.04

0.08

Barium, mg/L

1.5

1.5

68

Cadmium, mg/L

0.006

0.006

0.01

0.02

Chromium as Hexavalent
Chromium (Cr6+)

0.02

0.02

0.02

0.04

Copper as dissolved
Copper, mg/L

0.04

0.04

0.04

0.08

Iron, mg/L

55

7.5

35

Lead, mg/L

0.02

0.02

0.1

0.2

Manganese, mg/L

22220

MONITORING OF THE INDUSTRIES
Level

Responsible
Person/Office

Report Requirement

Project
Proponent/CompanyPollution Control Officer

Self-Monitoring Report(SMR) and/or (CMR)
Compliance Monitoring
ReportMulti-Partite
Monitoring (MMT) orThird Party
Monitoring

Team headed by the company Audit Report / CMR
composed of various
Stakeholders (LGU, Non
Government Organizations(NGOs) and other sectors)

Regulating body

EMB Central Office / EMBRegional Offices

Compliance Evaluation
ReportMETHODS OF MONITORING THE INDUSTRIES

Table Monitoring Documents submitted

o reports (Self-Monitoring Report)o planso required permits (discharge permit)
o other proof of compliance orimplementation

Field MonitoringSite Validation (actual plant inspectionand effluent sampling plus validation ofsubmitted reports)

Enforcement Instruments
PENALTIES AND LIABILITIES FOR NON-COMPLIANCE

Anyone who commits violation of the General
Effluent Standards (GES), case shall be elevated to thePollution Adjudication Board (PAB) for issuance of a
“Cease and Desist Order” (CDO).
Violation

Penalty/Civil Liability

Anyone who commits any ofthe prohibited acts or violates
any of the provisions of this
Act & its IRR

Upon recommendation of the PAB,
Fine of not less than PhP10,000 but
not more than P200,000 for every dayof violation

Violation
Failure to undertake
clean‐up
operations– wilfully or
through gross negligence
Failure or refusal toclean‐up
which results in serious injury
orloss of life or lead toirreversible
water contamination

Penalty/Civil Liability
Imprisonment not less than 2yrs but
not more than 4 yrs.; A fine of notless than PhP50,000 but not morethan PhP100,000 per day of violation

Imprisonment of not less than 6 yrs.
and 1 day and not more than 12 yrs.
and fine of PhP500,000 per day foreach violation

ViolationPenalty/Civil Liability

Gross violation of the Act,
-Deliberate discharge of toxic
pollutants-Five (5) or more violations within aperiod of 2years-Blatant disregard of the orders ofthe PAB, such as non-payment offines, breaking of seals or operating
despite the existence of an order forclosure, discontinuance or cessationof operation.

PAB shall issue resolution
recommending that proper
gov’t agencies file criminal
charges against violator

STATUS OF COMPLIANCE BY INDUSTRIAL / COMMERCIALESTABLISHMENTS TO THE CLEAN WATER ACT• Based on records of the DENR-EMB, of the total industries in
the Manila Bay Region that have been monitored from 20112015, only 45.41% are complying with the DENR Standards /or have been issued Wastewater Discharge Permit. At theNational level, about 50% are complying.
• This means that many have been issued Notices ofViolation (NOV) and are still implementing measures (suchas construction of wastewater treatment facility) so as totreat their wastewater. Or some still have pending case withPollution Adjudication Board (payment of fines/penalties)

Thank you…