Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Roy Cimatu arrived at shuttered resort island Boracay yesterday, ahead of the scheduled reopening dry run, beginning today and ending on October 25, the day before the planned reopening.

According to DENR, the dry run will ensure improvements were implemented for exit and entry points, proper solid waste disposal facilities had been installed, among other developments.

DENR earlier placed an emphasis on the requirement of sewage treatment plants, which are required of all lodging facilities on the island.

The need for the facilities 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,” Cimatu explained. “Millions of times beyond the standard.”

The dry run was announced following a decision by the Boracay Inter-agency Task Force./WDJ