NAGA CITY — Three aerator machines and a submersible sewage pump were installed at the wastewater treatment plant of the sanitary landfill in Barangay San Isidro, here, to see to it that the water from the garbage facility is safe enough to be released to the Naga river.

Engr. Joel Martin, head of the Solid Waste Management Office, said aside from removing the contaminants from the wastewater, the machines would also be of help to mitigate the emission of foul-smelling air from the facility’s wastewater treatment plant.

The SWMO was assisted by the City Engineer’s Office and the General Services Office in setting up the aerators that each, including the pump, has 3 horsepower. The aerators and the pump were connected separately to 3-phase electric power system.

Martin said the delay in the installation of the machines, which were procured by the contractor from abroad, was due to the inclement weather that has been experienced for the past weeks. He said the pandemic also caused delay in the purchase of machines, a situation that made the treatment plant to cease operations for several weeks.

“That [situation] explains why there was unpleasant smell emitting from the area that lasted for a number of days,” Martin said. The SWMO, however, is using bio-deodorizer or eco-friendly odor eliminator to soothe the bad small, sometimes its personnel cover the garbage with soil.

The SWMO head said that with the installation of the machines, emission of noxious odor from SLF will be a thing of the past and one can expect also that the hazardous particles and elements in the water coming out of the treatment plant will be removed, thereby making the wastewater safe enough to be released to nearby Yabu creek.