Laguna Lake Development Authority

LLDA puts into action systems and programs such as Environmental User Fee System (EUFS), Public Disclosure Program (PDP), the Appropriation and Utilization of Surface Waters (Surface Waters) for the management of the lake waters and tributaries that flow into the Lake, to ensure their proper use and maintenance for the sustainability of the ecosystem.

To realize the objectives of the creation of LLDA, the agency implemented policies to curb the possibility of stressing the lake’s assimilative capacity. The most recent policy was the Environmental User Fee System (EUFS). The EUFS was implemented by virtue of LLDA Board Resolution 22 in 1996. The objective of the policy was to “…(reduce) the pollution loading in to the Laguna de Bay by enjoining all discharges of liquid wastes to internalize the cost of environmental degradation…”. Formally, the said board resolution aptly defined the EUFS as a “market–based” policy instrument aimed at reducing the pollution loading in the lake. As such, companies found to have unusually high concentration of pollutants in their emissions, need to pay fines or lake “user–fees”.

The system encourages companies to invest in and operate pollution prevention and/or abatement systems in their establishment. Applying the "polluter pays principle", the system effects direct accountability for damage inflicted on the integrity of the Laguna de Bay region thereby encouraging individuals and business establishments to internalize into their decision-making process the environmental impacts of their day-to-day activities. The EUFS covers all enterprises in the administrative jurisdiction of LLDA that discharge wastewater in the Laguna de Bay system. These include commercial and industrial establishments; agro-based industries and establishments (such as swine farms and slaughterhouses); clustered dwellings (i.e., residential subdivisions); and domestic households[8]

Under the EUFS, a firm is required to secure a discharge permit which is renewed annually at the LLDA. The discharge permit effectively allows the firm to discharge its wastewater to the lake or through its main tributaries. The discharge permit gives the establishment a legal right to dispose their waste water in the Laguna de Bay region. Wastewater is basically sewage, storm water, and water used around the community, including firms.

Domestic wastewater includes black water, or wastewater from toilets, and gray water, which is wastewater from all sources except toilets. Black water and gray water have different characteristics, but both contain pollutants and disease-causing agents that require monitoring. Nondomestic wastewater is generated by offices, businesses, department stores, restaurants, schools, hospitals, farms, manufacturers, and other commercial, industrial, and institutional entities. Storm water is a nonresidential source and carries trash and other pollutants from streets, as well as pesticides and fertilizers from yards and fields.[9]