Welp, this doesn’t look good.
The Manila Zoo will be temporarily closed to the public starting tomorrow, after being tagged as a major pollutant of Manila Bay by the Department of Natural Resources (DENR).
Eew.
Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada ordered the closure in a memorandum that was dated Jan. 21 but only made available to the media today. He said that the closure is due to Manila Zoo’s lack of sewage treatment, which has contributed to the pollution of the bay.
At present, Manila Bay has 330 million units of fecal bacteria for every cubic meter, Manila Bulletin reported. Apparently, that’s … not good.
“According to (DENR) Secretary Roy Cimatu, the zoo had been draining untreated sewage into one of the estuaries leading to the bay,” Estrada’s memorandum states, according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Mayor Estrada told the Department of Engineering and Public Works and the Department of Public Services to submit a plan that would detail the installation of water treatment facilities for the zoo as well as for other city-owned facilities, a GMA Network report states.
The closure will remain in place until further notice. Estrada also vowed to help the national government in its plan to undertake a Boracay-style rehabilitation of the nearly 2,000-square-kilometer Manila Bay.
The rehabilitation of Manila Bay, once the jewel of the Philippine capital, will start on Jan. 27. The goal of the DENR is to make the bay clean enough that people can swim and go skin-diving in it, the Manila Bulletin reported.
Sounds like a tall order.
