This sector deals mainly on the subject of environmental health and sanitation, pollution of and natural resource management of environmentally critical areas.

Environmental Sanitation

The environmental health sanitation situation in the municipality is within tolerable but not necessary desirable level. The untreated water supply. Pollution of various waterways, inefficient waste disposal system, absence of adequate piped drainage and sewerage system, frequent flooding and deterioration of environmentally critical areas, all seem to contribute to the deterioration of environmentally critical areas, all seem to contribute to the deterioration of the environment.

Water Supply

Piped water served by the Barangay Waterworks Systems, individual and centralized deep well pump are the major source of municipal water supply. Quite a large proportion of the households source their water from shallow and dug wells which are accessible but which could readily become contaminated. Various tests show that these sources are relatively safe. The major water quality problems lies on these households utilizing their sources.

Solid Waste Collection and Disposal

There is no centralized garbage collection and disposal system in the municipality. Accordingly, there is municipal dump site for sanitary solid waste disposal. Individual households dispose of their solid wastes in their backyards. The most common disposal system used is burning, dumping and burying. Other methods of disposals such as composting are not very popular in the town.

As per survey conducted by the municipality, there are garbage collection activities in the barangays San Juan and San Antonio. The following table shows garbage disposal activities being done by the households in the municipality per barangay.

TABLE 49.1
GARBAGE DISPOSAL BY NO. OF HOUSEHOLDS, BY BARANGAY

Source: Primary Survey

There is a need for the acquisition of dump trucks as well as dumpsite for the purpose of garbage disposal.

Surface run-off waters flowing in the area essentially originates from the eastern side of the town which is predominantly sloping and mountainous in terrain. Most of the these waters are drained towards the Caliraya Lake Reservoir situated on the southern side, by a series of unnamed creeks. The rest of the water flow downwards to the level portions which is represented by the settlement areas before finally being discharged to Laguna Lake.

A close look at the drainage flow pattern in the two built-up are shows that water trends to drain either towards the two creeks or to adjacent ricelands or low lying areas. The above two settlement areas which are the only areas which are the only areas provided with drainage facilities have relatively good drainage system since both are mostly made up of concrete lined canals and only very few earthen canals. The Drainage Map reflects the directional flow of run-off water within the Poblacion area.

The town does have a centralized sewerage system. Instead, domestic sewage is disposed through the use of individual septic tanks and pit privies which is common in most rural towns. Effluent from their disposal system are then channeled to existing drainage canals or are leached to the soil.

Burial Site

The burial site is provided by four municipal and Roman Catholic Church cemeteries, one in each of San Juan and Longos and two in San Antonio. Those in the first tow barangays are located along the national road almost of the same area while those in San Antonio are near the elementary school contiguous with each other.

These cemeteries have a total land area of 7,306 square meters. There is ample provision for future expansion since the surrounding areas are mostly vacant lands. The location of the cemeteries are not considered ideal because of their proximity to some residential, institutional and industrial areas. The sites are, however, far enough from the existing sources of potable water.

TABLE 49.2
BURIAL FACILITIES

Source: Municipal Assessors

Water Pollution

The municipality is traversed by two major rivers; the San Juan and the Longos Rivers, numerous creeks and a number of small surface waters not to mention Laguna de Bay and Caliraya Lake. The surface water along the estuary are relatively free of silts and pollutants and have, therefore, been tapped by the populace within the area as irrigation water. Whenever water quality permits, marginal fishing activities are also carried out from time to time. However, as the water enters the settlement areas, particularly around the vicinity of the residential areas of San Juan and Longos, the quality decrease drastically. These waters could very well be due to debris, sewage and domestic wastes that are continually being dumped on them. During the dry season, water levels are low, flow is stagnant and very little flushing occur. All these effect the downstream irrigation water users, as well as the natural drainage pattern, which causes flooding during strong and continuous downpour.

As established in the discussion of the towns' excreta disposal facilities, most of the households are equipped with septic tanks or pour-flush latrines with the rest relying on pit latrines. Still a big portion are without any facility whatsoever and their sewage are directly discharged untreated to the waterways.

Agricultural and urban run-off is yet another significant but limited non-point source of water pollution with its contribution of pesticides residues. Nutrients and sediments. About 25% of the original quantity of pesticides and agricultural chemicals applied are estimated to end up in the lake. Animal waste is yet another major source of pollution because of the presence of livestock and poultry in the municipality. Land burial, a widely practiced method in the rural areas is at times a threat to water quality especially during storm run-off.

Rugged terrain, heavy rainfall, deforestation, and improper management of land or soil have restricted water flow in waterways which in turn result in flooding, thus sweeping some more or the litter, nutrients, toxic chemicals and pathodens into rivers and lakes.

The absence of adequate easement along rivers and creeks and the proximity of houses to these water bodies especially in San Juan and Longos encourage the usage of these waterways as a convenient dumping site exposing the dwellers to water-borne and other fifth-bred disease-vectors.

Air Pollution

Although Kalayaan has its own share of air pollution problem from vehicular, industrial and domestic emission, its air quality is as yet not so bad, compared to other industrialized municipalities, Metropolitan Manila and other highly urbanized areas.

The land transport sector contribute the bulk of the air pollution problems from mobile sources in the form of suspended particulates, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide and organic sources. The total number of vehicles or trips made on the intensive transport corridors, the National Highway and the Provincial Road which dissects Barangay San Juan is not available. Inspite of being the agrees and ingress point between the southern municipalities of Rizal and North-Western lake shore towns of Laguna, the traffic routes, are not expectedly high. Similarly, the town exhibits a generally, favorable meteorological conditions which prevents the occurrence of smog or inversion episodes even in the presence of highly pollutive activities.

The stationary sources, i.e., rice mills and a wood carving establishment located along the National Road, to a certain extent cause air pollution due to saw or wood dust and other forms of emissions from rice milling with high concentration of dusts and other particulate matters, paint and lacquer mists which together with all the other air pollutants are blown by the northeasterly winds which washes down tot he lake during heavy downpour. As a consequence of incompatible mix-land use, these industries are even situated amidst built-up or residential areas. The chicken and the egg controversy does not resolve the problem, which could have been averted were a zoning ordinance vis-à-vis land use plan been in force earlier.

Unfortunately for those living along San Juan river near the San Juan Hydraulic Ice Plant an additional nuisance which can sometimes be intolerable comes from the odorous poultry wastes of the nearby poultry farm.

In this case, the nuisance plus the effect on property value more than actual health threats are the real issues.

The widely practiced open dumping and burning, solid waste disposal schemes resorted to by the households in the absence of a centralized collections system, likewise contributes to this. The health implication of this level of air pollution on the residents could only be guessed at, in the absence of actual correlated statistics.

Land Pollution

Most of the thoroughness and streets of Kalayaan are relatively clean and free of litter. However, a closer look at the polluted sections of San Juan and Longos River indicate the whereabouts of the bulk of the solid debris from domestic waste.

Recycling is not practiced even on limited scale as evidenced by the absence of any junk dealer in the area.

Noise Pollution

Another unnoticed nuisance in the municipality is noise pollution specifically along the provincial road which passes through the built-up area of San Juan and the jeepney route in Longos.

The sash factories with their motors and electrical equipment are also a noise nuisance to the neighborhood clusters around them. However with low traffic volume passing through the municipality's main thoroughfares and the limited number of factories, noise pollution is expected not high.

Environmentally Critical

Environmentally Critical Areas are those geographic units which are particularly delicate and sensitive, thus requiring special handling and management. As a result of rough assessments, the following areas in the town are considered environmentally critical.

Forest Area

The most serious environmental problem in Kalayaan at present is its denuded forest some parts of which have degenerated and deteriorated to marginal lands covered by grasses, cogon or a few trees essentially because of improper forests management practices particularly illegal logging. LLBA records have shown that way back in 1946, Kalayaan has approximately 1,755 hectares of forest land covering more than 37.66% of the entire municipality. Although this was already slightly below the national targeted ratio of 40% forest to 60% non-forest land, the situation at present is worst with most of the forest areas totally encroached upon by agriculture oriented activities and marginal grassland. The loss of about 1,276 hectares or 72.70% of the original forest land within the short span of thirty four years has serious repercussions such as soil erosion, siltation and sedimentation of the surface waters, flooding, loss of flora and fauna, alteration of the micro climate through modification and shifts in wind and rainfall pattern, temperatures, hydrologic regimen and total radiation and other environmental effects.

Costal Area

The coastal area has increasing become an important aspect in the field of environmental protection and management from the local as well as regional standpoint, essentially because of the recognition of the versatility of the habitat in this critical ecosystem, bounded geographically between land and water areas. The municipality has approximately 63 kilometers of shoreline towards its western and southeastern coast of Caliraya Lake, respectively. Presently these coastal areas are being tapped for marginal fishing, recreational and coastal agricultural activities. This zone extend 200 meters seaward and at the average, 650 meters inland, coinciding with the established flood-pain (100-year flood) boundary.

DEVELOPMENT NEEDS

Unplanned and uncontrolled development pattern together with population growth have led to quite a number of problems and needs.

1. Unsafe drinking water supply for households not being served by the Municipal Water System and deep wells is one problem the local government has to look into. Although existing shallow and open water bodies are generally safe for use at present, possibility of their being contaminated is high.

2. The unsanitary solid waste disposal methods poses another problem to health and sanitation in particular and environmental quality in general. Although the problem is not serious at the moment, the need for a more acceptable method of solid waste disposal will be felt in the near future when population growth and economic activity increases.

Considering the projected population of 44,267 by the end of the planning period, and the standard of 1 hectare of land per 30,000 population for sanitary landfill, there is a need for 14,755 square meters for dumping site.

3. With the average single grave size of 2.44 square meter (HSRC standard) the existing 7,306 square meter area of the four cemeteries has a maximum capacity of 2,994 burial lots. With the project number of deaths which totals 689 from 1984 to 1995 the existing capacity of the present cemetery is quite adequate. The only problem though is their proximity to residential areas.

4. There is a need to improve the existing drainage facilities by providing adequately sized concrete canals to eliminate the improvised canals being used by residents.

Despite having an almost complete drainage system, the town still experience drainage problem in view of excess run-off water coming from the mountains. Apparently not of the existing drainage canals are undersized, hence, they cannot accommodate the volume of run-off water cascading from the upper areas. As a remedy the residents utilize improvised drainage canals which they construct between lots as additional channel to the surface water before flowing to the lake.

5. Pollution of the town's surface waters by domestic and industrial waste is yet at the initial stage. However, with the increase in population and projected expansion of commercial and industrial activities such may become a major problem if no control measures or regulations are developed or formulated even at the early stage. The same holds true for air, noise and land pollution.

6. Determination of forests and natural vegetation cover at the cost of disappearing flora and fauna through negligence and indiscriminate logging and related forest activities continues to be a problem to the municipality. Thus the end to upgrade this area to decrease negative impact on the overall quality of the area is imperative.

Coastal area also needs proper care to maintain and improve its existing conditions.