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SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — While the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) awaits laboratory results from water samples collected after a foul-smelling substance surfaced off a beach resort last week, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said Saturday (July 25) it had identified the pollutant as leachate and traced its suspected source to a drainage system linked to the Subic Bay International Terminal Corp. (SBITC).
According to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, leachate is a contaminated liquid formed when rainwater or other liquids percolate through decomposing waste. It can contain dissolved chemicals, organic matter, heavy metals, and other pollutants that may contaminate soil, groundwater, and nearby rivers, lakes, or coastal waters if not properly collected and treated.
The PCG findings came after the foul-smelling floating substance resurfaced off All Hands Beach Resort on Friday, prompting personnel from the Coast Guard’s Marine Environmental Protection Unit (MEPU) in Zambales and Coast Guard Sub-Station Olongapo to conduct an ocular inspection and shoreline survey.
