PoDIWM-2: Strengthening Capacity Development for Local Governments in ASEAN to Tackle Microplastics and Water Pollution through Decentralised Wastewater Management Approach

IGES organised a Regional Science-Policy dialogue on 20 February 2024, under the umbrella of the PoDIWM-2 project, “Strengthening Capacity Development for Local Governments in ASEAN to Tackle Microplastics and Water Pollution through Decentralised Wastewater Management Approach.” The hybrid event took place at The Sukosol Hotel Bangkok, Thailand, and attracted about 60 participants, including 40 on-site and 20 online participants.

The Regional Policy Dialogue on the first day aimed to achieve three main objectives. Firstly, it drove discussions on leveraging decentralised domestic wastewater management (DWM) to tackle water pollution and emerging microplastic challenges in ASEAN countries, drawing upon insights from the “SDG 6 Model City” pilot project in Bauang Municipality, La Union, Philippines. Secondly, it showcased final project deliverables, including “ASEAN’s Journey Towards Sustainable Sanitation,” “Decentralised Wastewater Management in ASEAN – Training Modules for SDG6,” and “Harmonised Protocols for Microplastics Monitoring in ASEAN Countries.” Lastly, it aimed to foster dialogues on strategically utilising project outputs for effective replication and scaling-up in various ASEAN cities and municipalities.

During his welcome remarks, AWGWRM Chairman Dr. Akkharath Inthavy expressed appreciation to the project organizer and the Japanese government, emphasising this dialogue as an excellent opportunity for stakeholders to share insights and discuss strategies and solutions for successful wastewater management in ASEAN.

Mr. Yosuke Kawamoto, First Secretary - Mission of Japan to ASEAN delivered his Welcome remarks, following the speech from the AWGWRM Chairman. Mr. Yosuke Kawamoto highlighted the friendly and cooperative relationship between Japan and ASEAN began in 1973. Since then, Japan and ASEAN have been developing cooperation in various fields for the past 50 years, particularly the Government of Japan mde a strong commitment to stand alongside ASEAN in addressing the triple crises of climate change, environmental pollution including marine litter, and biodiversity loss. He also highlighted the contribution of PoDIWM-2 to that commitment through its outreach materials and pilot project.

Mr. Ricky A. Arzadon, Executive Director of the National Water Resources Board, Philippines, expressed his hope in his Opening remarks that the lessons learned during the pilot project would encourage other municipalities in the Philippines and other ASEAN countries to develop DWM systems, moving toward a future of cleaner water in the region. Similarly, IGES Executive Director Dr. Yasuo Takahashi emphasised the importance of the pilot project as “the cornerstone of PoDIWM-2” and enthused that this initiative “has not only showcased the feasibility of innovative wastewater treatment technologies but has also served as an inspiration of hope for sustainable urban water management and stands as evidence to what we can achieve through collaborative efforts.”

Project Leader, Dr. Pham Ngoc Bao, who explained the overall results of PoDIWM-2, followed by reports on the pilot project implementation with details on microplastics treatment, training modules, and a practice guide.

The presentations were followed by an engaging Q&A session before Mr. Ricky A. Arzadon concluded the event by thanking the participants for their lively and productive discussions.The Science-Policy dialogue constituted the first day in a 2-day PoDIWM-2 event. The second day was the 2nd regional technical capacity training session.

As part of the fourth regional activities held within the PoDIWM-2 project, IGES orchestrated the 2^nd technical capacity training session on 21 February in Bangkok, Thailand. PoDIWM-2 is shorthand for “Strengthening Capacity Development for Local Governments in ASEAN to Tackle Microplastics and Water Pollution through Decentralised Wastewater Management Approach.” This training session followed a science-policy dialogue that took place the previous day, and it brought together with more than 50  participants, both in person and online.

The event aimed to provide attendees, especially representatives from departments/divisions of local governments in the Philippines and other ASEAN cities/provinces, as well as water and sanitation professionals in ASEAN countries, with in-depth technical training on sustainable city-wide sanitation planning, decentralised wastewater management regulations, and microplastics protocols.

Opening the training session, Dr. Akkharath Inthavy, Chairman of the ASEAN Working Group on Water Resources Management (AWGWRM), and Prof. Thammarat Koottatep, Director of the Global Water & Sanitation Center, Thailand, welcomed the participants and expressed their hope for engaging discussions that would foster knowledge and technology sharing among countries.

In the second lecture, Mr. Andreas Schmidt from URBANWaters Consulting GmbH further inspired the participants with practical guidance for the establishment of city-wide sanitation master plans and regulation of decentralised wastewater management at the municipality level. Mr. Schmidt detailed strategies to tackle key challenges and improve on-site municipal wastewater management, then introduced a public framework for the implementation of sewered wastewater management.

The final lecture was delivered by AMH Philippines, Inc. representative Dr. Ezra Osorio, who laid out recommended harmonized protocols for microplastics sampling, treatment, analysis, and monitoring at sewage treatment facilities and receiving rivers. These protocols not only offer technical guidance but also include approximate costs, a flowchart guide, descriptions of likely challenges along with suggested countermeasures, and actual pictures of sampling and analysis.

As part of the comprehensive training program, participants also had the opportunity to visit the Global Water and Sanitation Center and its performance testing laboratory (NATS Lab) at the AIT Pathumthani Campus. This visit provided attendees with a firsthand understanding of the critical role played by advanced wastewater management systems in ensuring water quality.

Concluding the event, Mr. Ricky A. Arzadon, Executive Director of the National Water Resources Board, Philippines, expressed his gratitude to the participants for their insightful contributions, engaging discussions, and commitment to advancing knowledge and collaboration.

IGES hosted an online inception workshop on 17 June 2022 as part of the PoDIWM-2 project, titled “Strengthening Capacity Development for Local Governments in ASEAN to Tackle Microplastics and Water Pollution through Decentralised Wastewater Management Approach.” The purpose ot this workshop was to present the entire PoDIWM-2 project, including its framework, objectives, scope, planned activities, and overall project implementation plan, which included the pilot project, as well as the expected outputs and outcomes of the project with a timeline.

In addition, the purpose of this inception workshop was for the project team members to obtain feedback, suggestions, and advice from the National Focal Points of the ASEAN Working Group on Water Resources Management (AWGWRM) and other relevant partners and stakeholders in the pilot city in the Philippines to increase the likelihood of successful dissemination, replication, and application of the project’s outcomes, including a “Regional Guidebook on Sustainable Decentralised Domestic Wastewater Management for ASEAN Resilient and Green Cities” and the development of harmonised procedures for sampling, analysis, and monitoring microplastics in sewage treatment plants and receiving water bodies (rivers), in all ASEAN countries. In 75 participants from the ASEAN member states, with a nearly equal number of men and women (38 and 37, respectively) in attendance.

Dr. Inthavy Akkharath, Chairman of the AWGWRM, provided a welcome address at the event and emphasised that most ASEAN cities continue to face difficulties in providing safe, affordable, functional, and sustainable domestic wastewater treatment systems. In addition, the conventional centralised DWM approach could not address these issues due to the substantial investment required. Meanwhile, a decentralised approach to wastewater management is a cost-effective and sustainable solution.

Meanwhile, Dr. Sevillo D. David, Executive Director of the National Water Resources Board of the Philippines and the principal project proponent, emphasised that decentralised solutions can provide opportunities for resource recovery through the reuse of treated wastewater and sludge for agricultural activities and other local purposes, thus aiding in reducing climate change-related pressure on water resources and promoting a circular economy through resource recovery.

The 2-hour inception workshop featured presentations by team members and a short Q&A session following each presentation. The workshop concluded with an open forum and additional discussion on issues raised by the participants.

Additionally, comments, suggestions, and recommendations were considered as inputs for improving current and potential future projects.

IGES organised the Regional Consultation Workshop and the 1st Regional Technical Capacity Training Session in Manila, Philippines, on the 26th and 27th of April 2023, as part of a multi-country collaborative project titled “Strengthening Capacity Development for Local Governments in ASEAN to Tackle Microplastics and Water Pollution through a Decentralised Domestic Wastewater Management Approach” (PoDIWM-2).

PoDIWM-2 addresses pressing issues in ASEAN member states regarding wastewater management, such as microplastics pollution, by laying the groundwork for the establishment of a regional platform and policy dialogues, promoting technological innovation, and providing technical capacity development for local governments and relevant stakeholders to achieve better and more resilient decentralised DWM. Thus, the project contributes to realising Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6: Clean water and sanitation. IGES is the project’s Implementing Agency.

Aiming to discuss the project’s progress and disseminate its findings, the 2-day event brought together over 100 participants, both on-site and online, including national focal points of the ASEAN Working Group on Water Resources Management (AWGWRM), the ASEAN Secretariat, representatives of the project funder JAIF Management Team (JMT), the National Water Resources Board of the Philippines, relevant departments/divisions of local governments in the Philippines and other ASEAN cities/provinces, and IGES.

In his opening remarks, JMT Programme Coordinator Zin Aung Swe emphasised the event’s significance in providing timely progress reports to all project members and fostering a common understanding of and expectations for the project. Mr. Zin elaborated that PoDIWM-2 is a crucial factor for the realisation of ASEAN policies, including the ASEAN Framework of Action on Marine Debris, ASEAN Strategic Plan of Action on the Environment, ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific, and SDGs.

In his opening remarks, IGES Executive Director Yasuo Takahashi extended a warm welcome to the attendees and highlighted the efforts of ASEAN to improve DWM, as well as the potential contributions of the project in general and this event in particular to aiding these efforts. Mr. Takahashi stated that the 2-day regional consultation workshop and first regional training session will allow all participants to exchange viewpoints and promote further dialogue between multi-stakeholders. He added, “By working together and sharing the outcomes, we can discover ways to more efficiently tackle the challenges we face as well as contribute to evidence-based policymaking in the region.”

The event continued with presentations by the Project Leader, Dr. Pham Ngoc Bao, from IGES and activity managers regarding each major project outcome during the first event day. The following day, detailed explanations were provided on how these outcomes and lessons learnt from Japan can be utilised to improve DWM in ASEAN. These outcomes include a training curriculum on DWM for the ASEAN region; the pilot construction of a decentralised wastewater treatment plant at the Bauang public market in the Philippines—the project pilot site; a practical regional guidebook on sustainable DWM in the ASEAN region; and a baseline investigation and development of harmonised protocols for the sampling, pretreatment, and characterisation of microplastics at sewage treatment plants and receiving waters.

Engineer Susan Abaño, a representative of the National Water Resources Board of the Philippines, thanked all of the attendees for their lively and productive discussions, which will refine the current outcomes and pave the way for future ones.

The report titled “Riverine Microplastic Pollution in ASEAN Countries—Current State of Knowledge” comprehensively analyses microplastic pollution in ASEAN rivers and its potential effects on ecosystems and human health. The report identifies microplastics—small plastic particles with a diameter of less than 5 mm—as an emerging environmental problem, particularly those originating from land-based sources such as tire debris, synthetic textile microfibers from laundry, microbeads from personal care products, and discharged domestic wastewater. These microplastics frequently enter aquatic environments, such as rivers and lakes, and ultimately the ocean, posing a threat to ecosystems, aquaculture organisms, and potentially human health.

In most ASEAN member states, riverine microplastic pollution’s occurrence, ingestion, and effects on ecosystems and human health are poorly understood. Consequently, effective and appropriate countermeasures to control the emission of microplastics have not yet been established. Several empirical studies demonstrate the presence of microplastics in water bodies, including the Arctic and Antarctic oceans, rivers, and lakes around the world. In Asia, a considerable amount of plastic is produced and discarded. According to reports, 15% of Asia’s total solid waste is plastic waste, and half of this amount enters the ocean from land-based sources, contributing to the global microplastic problem. According to studies conducted in ASEAN nations, rivers contain vast quantities of microplastics. The report notes that synthetic materials have become the dominant clothing material in recent times, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, single-use plastics have become the preferred items. Without intervention, it is unlikely that microplastic pollution will be reduced anytime soon.

The report also emphasises the cross-border nature of plastic waste issues, stating that solutions implemented in a single country will not be sufficient to address these regional and transboundary issues. It calls for collective efforts by all ASEAN member states to tackle issues throughout the plastics value chain using the circular economy approach.

For more information, please refer to the full report at:
https://www.iges.or.jp/en/pub/riverine-microplastic-asean/en

1. The report titled “Decentralised Domestic Wastewater Management in Asia-Challenges and Opportunities” discusses the urgent need for effective wastewater management in Asia as a result of rapid economic development, population growth, and environmental degradation. The report emphasises that the traditional centralised wastewater management system, while effective in densely populated urban areas of developed countries, has proven to be infeasible and unsustainable in many regions of developing Asia due to high investment and operating costs, limited local budget allocations, lack of expertise for proper operation and maintenance, and frequently inappropriate management models. The report highlights the following approaches to addressing these issues:
2. Decentralised sanitation decision-making: The report urges the participation of all relevant stakeholders, including local actors, in the decision-making process. It argues that top-down decision-making makes it difficult to implement policies effectively.
3. Strong regulatory framework and transparent institutional arrangements: The report notes that the legal framework for wastewater management in several Asian nations is insufficient and that regulations are not strictly enforced. It also highlights the fact that institutional roles and responsibilities frequently overlap and are poorly defined, resulting in fragmented management.
4. Proactive involvement of all relevant stakeholders: The report emphasises the significance of proactively involving all relevant stakeholders, including both governmental and nongovernmental stakeholders such as local actors or the private sector, in the decision-making process at an early stage. This will ensure project management transparency and sustainability.

The report concludes with a recommendation to adopt a decentralised approach to sanitation, which is better suited to the local context of many Asian nations. This approach to wastewater management is more cost-effective and sustainable than the conventional centralised system, and it involves community participation. In addition, the report highlights successful examples of decentralised wastewater management in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

For more information, please refer to the full report at:
https://wepa-db.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/WEPA_1_201503.pdf