How urban planning entered the picture

Long before ‘urban planning’ became the ‘it’ word in this day and age of rapid but unplanned
development, author John M. Levy in his book, “Contemporary Urban Living,” said this began during
the Roman times. He said the logical and orderly arrangement of streets and public streets in Roman
cities “indicated the existence of high level of city planning even before the birth of Christ.”

Enter the Industrial Revolution when population growth during those times required organizing areas
where communities began to sprout. Levy said in the U.S., problems on lack of sanitation,
disappearance of urban spaces, and overcrowding arose due to lack of planning.

In terms of sanitation, Levy said sanitary conditions in most cities in the U.S. were “appalling” by
modern standards. Human waste was disposed in a backyard septic tank or cesspool. The lack of
sanitation that time resulted in the spread of water-borne diseases such as typhoid fever and cholera.

Due to sanitation problems, a “sanitary survey” was conducted in the late 19th century where
mapping of houses, causes of contagious diseases, and presence of outhouses and cesspools was
done to come up with a systematic data and mapping effort, which in the long run have been used in
many cities in the US and even outside.

Sanitation system in Baguio

It is unclear if the U.S. sewerage system designed by Olmsted was the same as the one in Baguio
City. But according to the Waste Water and Ambient Air Division of the City Environment and Parks
Management Office and the City Engineering Office, the city’s drainage system and sewerage
treatment was considered one of the first engineered systems at the time.

FREDRICK LAW OLMSTED

Levy described Olmsted’s design of the U.S. drainage and sewerage system as something that was
“carefully keyed to the contour of the land for adequate drainage of both sewage and storm water.
The location of swampy areas, brooks, streams, and other physical features was taken into account for
health as well as for aesthetic reasons.”
So carefully planned were Baguio’s drainage and sewerage system that these pre-war structures are
still being used to this day and have gradually been updated to conform with the demands of a
growing population.

A 2003 case study of the World Bank on the water and sanitation program in East Asia and the Pacific
showed that Baguio, along with Zamboanga and Vigan cities, are the only local government units
outside of Metro Manila that boast of sewerage treatment plants that continue to function to this day
despite the fact that these were built between the 1920s and 1930s. These plants are managed and
subsidized by their local government units.

Baguio stands out as the LGU that treats effluents prior to final disposal. The WB said this is courtesy
of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, which, in 1986, built a state-of-the-art sewerage
treatment plant located at South Sanitary Camp.

The Baguio STP has a capacity of 8,600 cubic meters per day.

The Baguio drainage system

With a topography that is generally hilly, it is unimaginable that some portions of Baguio get flooded.
However, data from the Bureau of Mines (now Mines and Geosciences Bureau) showed there are
actually flat areas in Baguio. As a result, these areas are said to be susceptible to flooding. These
barangays are Upper Rock Quarry, City Camp Proper, Guisad Surong, Irisan, and Lourdes Extension.

Of these five barangays, focus is on City Camp Proper where the City Camp Lagoon – a natural catch
basin – is located.

A 1987 joint feasibility study by the MGB and the City Engineer’s Office showed perennial flooding at
the lagoon was due to the sealing of natural drainage tunnels that lead to Crystal Cave and drain to
the Asin Creek.

The study showed that overpopulation, infrastructure development at the Rock Quarry Reservation
(which at the time included City Camp), siltation, sedimentation, and other natural debris off these
natural tunnels and the “pores” (sinkholes) of the limestone floor, and the denudation of the
catchment basin were all contributory to flooding.

The same study showed that more run-off water could have been accommodated had it not been for
the sealing of the tunnel leading to Ferguson Road, to allow the construction of the Baguio Colleges
Foundation.