After earlier stipulating the requirement for establishments on currently-shuttered resort destination Boracay to set up sewage treatment plants, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) recently set deadlines for when such fixtures need to be installed.

Establishments with 50 rooms and above must have treatment systems installed by October 26, the scheduled date of the island’s reopening.

Smaller lodging facilities have until later to have their systems ready; those with 30 to 49 rooms will have until November 30, while places with six to 29 rooms have until December 31.

The need for sewage treatment plants became an issue after excessive amounts of e-coliform, or e.coli, a type of bacteria, were detected in local waters.

“The concentration of e-coliform in the water samples that were put to test in the early part of our rehabilitation efforts were too high,” DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu explained. “Millions of times beyond the standard.”

Following a study conducted by the Boracay Inter-agency Task Force, a dry run for the island’s reopening will take place from October 15 to 25./WDJ