The Ecosystem Services and Environmental Policy (ESEP) Laboratory of the School of Environmental Science and Management (SESAM) and the Manila Water Philippine Ventures are jointly conducting a water footprint accounting study of Laguna Technopark Inc. (LTI), the Philippine’s oldest industrial estate. This is in addition to a complementary analyses done for other horizontal and vertical developments namely, Ridge View Subdivisions, Cebu IT Park and Abreeza Residences. For almost 30 years, LTI has served as a critical economic zone in the Philippines accommodating 241+ locator-companies significantly contributing to the country’s export revenues and employment generation.

The water footprint accounting (WFA) of a technopark, such as that of the LTI, was geared towards the determination of the amount of direct and indirect water uses across the various business entities’ operations and production. As a pioneering and considered as among the premier economic zone in the country, the conduct of the WFA on LTI is seen as a significant step in promoting awareness on the water consumption patters of big business units. On the other hand, the study also aimed to explore how results of WFA could yield towards the generation of cost-effective information that can be utilized by the private sector to perform risk assessment that can be integrated in its planning and daily operations. In the long run, results of a WFA study could be used by government regulatory agencies to better inform decisions making processes critical for the realization of an efficient water resource use.

For the past years, SESAM has been offering ENS 230 (Industrial Ecology), ENS 242 (Economic Valuation of Environmental Impacts and Natural Resources) and ENS 296 (Environmental Impacts Assessments: Perspectives from Social and Natural Sciences). Results of the study are expected to provide additional experience of SESAM in engaging with the private sector to improve instruction, research-to-development models testing, and strengthen academe-private sector partnerships.

 The Manila Water Philippine Ventures uses plants to help metabolize contaminants in wastewater treatment (top), which was visited by the SESAM research team led by Dr. Rico C. Ancog (bottom).

The study is implemented by Dr. Rico Ancog (Project Leader), Dr. Patricia Sanchez, Engr. Jerwin Aguiba, Engr. Aljo Dolores, Engr. Glenn Oca and Ms. Ma. Christina Corales. In its visit to LTI this 4 April 2018, the research team has explored the newly established FCR sewage treatment technology, which uses plants and engineered media that provide a fixed habitat for a diverse fixed-film bacterial culture that metabolizes the contaminants in wastewater.