Umapad dumpsite: Danger zone
The Umapad dumpsite in Mandaue City has been declared danger zone due to the methane gas deposits found in the area.
Mandaue City Mayor Gabriel Luis Quisumbing made the declaration yesterday after the recent soil testing conducted by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
JICA recommended that the area be declared as "no-build zone" until proper mitigation measures are being done.
"We decided to declare the Umapad dumpsite as danger zone and we will be shelving all the development plans on that area for the time being. We will focus on the complete rehabilitation and re-development of the Umapad dumpsite to make sure that it is safe and it is viable," Quisumbing told reporters.
The five-hectare dumpsite was closed on October 12, 2017 upon the mayor's order as part of the city government's compliance to the Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000.
JICA notified the city government last week about their soil-testing study and its results were received last Monday. It was found out that the 10-meter deep dumpsite, which had deepened for 40 years, poses potential risk for fire explosion due to methane gas.
JICA recommended that the local government should take the gas out of the site as soon as possible to prevent a potential calamity.
Quisumbing said the dumpsite had accumulated lots of waste materials since the 1970s making it highly flammable or even combustible.
"There's always a risk under the right circumstances. Basin mobuto ang methane gas deposits. We saw that a few years ago, around 20102011, where there was a big fire in the Umapad dumpsite that took a week to control," Quisumbing said.
Quisumbing said that the more or less 20 individuals living near the dumpsite should be relocated to safer area while the dumpsite is being rehabilitated.
"They will definitely move out from that area. It's toxic," he said.
Quisumbing said they will be asking help from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Department of Energy (DOE) to extract the methane gas in the area. The mayor has ordered to stop all development projects in the area.
"It might affect, number one, the structural integrity sa mga nagtukod didto. But most importantly nagpost sad siya'g risgo sa mga workers or sa mga nagpuyo didto," Quisumbing said.
A sewage treatment plant is supposed to be installed in the area in coordination with the Metro Cebu Water District (MCWD) but this will no longer push through because of the "worrisome development."
“We have no stronger priority than public safety and we will prioritize the rehabilitation of the Umapad dump site to become a safe zone at the safest and soonest possible time," Quisumbing explained.
The city government earlier proposed a P120million budget this year to build a centralized waste processing facility on the property and to explore the possibility of working with private sectors for waste energy facilities. Quisumbing admitted that he is no longer willing to pursue the plan.