ARTICLE IN PRESS

Journal of Environmental Management 88 (2008) 11411150

www.elsevier.com/locate/jenvman

Analysis of constraints and potentials for wastewater management in

the coastal city of Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia
Markus T. Lasuta,1, Kathe R. Jensenb,, Ganesh Shivakotia
a

Integrated Tropical Coastal Zone Management, Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand
b
Zoological Museum, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
Received 18 September 2005; received in revised form 30 May 2007; accepted 6 June 2007
Available online 6 September 2007

Abstract
Manado is the largest and most densely populated coastal city in North Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. The city is facing problems of
wastewater discharged from various sources. These problems are driven by high population pressure, increasing economic activity, and
low household income, in combination with inadequate organizational structure of government institutions for addressing the
wastewater problems as well as for law enforcement. There have been no community initiatives to prevent or mitigate wastewater
problems. Therefore, a wastewater management plan is urgently needed to prevent and mitigate pollution caused by discharged
wastewater. In this paper we analyze the current situation with respect to environmental state, sources and treatment of wastewater,
socio-economic and institutional capacities as well as community awareness. Constraints and potentials are discussed to give
recommendations for an integrated wastewater management plan for the city of Manado.
r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Wastewater management; Environmental management; Coastal city; Manado; North Sulawesi; Indonesia

1. Introduction
Discharge of untreated wastewater is a great concern
due to its impact on the environment. This issue has been
addressed in many ways in different countries. Integrated
coastal management (ICM) is an approach, which addresses all problems in a holistic manner (Kawabe, 1998;
Wu et al., 1998; Morton and Blackmore, 2001; Murthy
et al., 2001; Nur et al., 2001; Yeung, 2001). However, in the
city of Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia, the problem of
urban wastewater has not been included in existing ICM
plans. For a rapidly growing coastal city as Manado,
wastewater management should be integrated in the ICM
plan since quantity and quality of water owing to the
coastal ecosystem may affect the ecosystem as well as the
health of the city population.
Corresponding author.

E-mail address: KRJensen@snm.ku.dk (K.R. Jensen).

Present Address: Fakultas Perikanan dan Ilmu Kelautan, Universitas
Sam Ratulangi, Jalan Kampus Unsrat Bahu, Manado 95115, Indonesia.
1

0301-4797/$ - see front matter r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2007.06.011

Since the majority of wastewater is discharged without

any treatment, a wastewater management plan is urgently
needed for the city of Manado. The rivers owing through
the city are in a state of pollution exceeding Indonesian,
ASEAN, and international water quality standards (Lasut
et al., 2005). The rivers are presently unsuitable for aquatic
activities (e.g., aquaculture, irrigation, and tourism) and,
moreover, cases of wastewater-transmitted diseases (e.g.,
diarrhea and dermatitis) occur frequently.
Many alternative strategies can be applied to the management of wastewater: (1) on-site or off-site treatment, (2) high
or low technology facilities, (3) post-treatment reuse or
discharge to the environment, (4) concentration for reuse of
the wastes removed during treatment or storage of these
wastes in a safe manner. Other strategies focus on separation
of wastewater ows and/or avoiding contamination in the
rst place (Karrman, 2001).
The primary objective of this study is to identify and
discuss constraints and potentials of the existing situation
and conditions for formulating a wastewater management
plan for the city of Manado. We present data on the

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M.T. Lasut et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 88 (2008) 11411150

natural settings and land use patterns, the current status of

wastewater sources and impacts, the technical standards of
existing facilities, the socio-economic settings and an
analysis of the communitys environmental awareness.
We then analyze potentials and constraints of these aspects
in order to derive recommendations for a wastewater
management plan in the city of Manado.

2. Methodology
Three aspects were examined: (1) wastewater dischargerelated aspects (WRA); (2) community-related aspects
(CRA); and (3) government/administration-related aspects
(GRA). The WRA comprised identication of wastewater
sources, treatments and impacts. Natural characteristics
(land use pattern and natural settings; population and
socio-economic settings) were included in this aspect.
The CRA included the communitys environmental awareness (Pompeo, 1999; Hauger et al., 2002), the level of
knowledge and attitudes related to solutions of wastewater
discharge problems. The GRA included government
institutional arrangement, regulations, policies, strategies,
and actions, in which government/administrative parties
play an important role. Secondary data were obtained
from government and consultancy reports, while primary

data were obtained through interviews and observations

in the eld.
Primary data were collected between August 2002 and
June 2003. Two districts (Kecamatan Molas and Kecamatan Wenang) within the city were selected as study areas.
Site selection was based on location close to the coastal
area (including water-front) and being inuenced by the
watershed of the Tondano river (Fig. 1). Identication of
wastewater sources in the city was done qualitatively, while
information on wastewater treatment was done quantitatively for individual households using the criteria shown in
Table 1. For analyzing wastewater impacts, the data
collected in three rivers, Bailang, Maasing, and Tondano
(Fig. 1), were used (Lasut et al., 2005). Land use was
calculated using GIS (ArcView software and satellite
imagery SPOT XS4). The CRA data were obtained
through interviews with individual inhabitants and household surveys (family basis) using questionnaire technique
with several topics, each consisting of several questions.
The data were subsequently aggregated to calculate
percentage for each topic. Sample size was determined
according to Slovin (1960 cited in Sevilla et al., 1988) and
sampling method of stratied random (Steel and Torrie,
1980) was applied. The GRA data were obtained from
interviews with key informants in government ofces and
from reports.

Fig. 1. Map of the city of Manado with ve districts (Molas, Mapanget, Wenang, Sario, and Malalayang) and three rivers observed for water quality in
this study.

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1143

Table 1
Criteria for toilet condition and capacity used in the present study
Criteria

Residential septic tank

Condition

Very
Leaking to sewer
poor
Poor
Open hole
Adequate Closed hole, no concrete/cement
Good
Very
good

Closed hole, concrete/cement, one

compartment
Closed hole, with concrete/cement,
two compartments

Capacitya (liters per bedroom (a)/liters

per person (b))

Condition of infrastructures and facilities connected to septic

tank at house basis

With or without concrete/cement, littering by solid waste, no

running water
o1419.38 (a)/ o709.69 (b)
No concrete/cement, littering by solid waste, running water
1419.381774.23 (a)/ 709.69887.11 (b) With or without concrete/cement, no littering by solid waste, no
running water
41774.23 (a)/ 4887.11 (b)
With or without concrete/cement, with or without littering by
solid waste, running water
Concrete/cement, no littering by solid waste, running water

Standard: one bedroom equals septic tank volume of at least 1419.38 l for adequate capacity (Feachem et al., 1983; cited in Kusnoputranto, 1997); one
bedroom corresponds to two persons.

3. Existing situation and condition of Manado City

Table 2
Land use and geomorphologic features of the city of Manado

3.1. Natural settings and population

Manado, the capital city of North Sulawesi Province,
Indonesia, is located at 11300 11400 N; 1241400 1241500 E. It
is a developing coastal city forming a waterfront to
Manado Bay (Fig. 1). In 2000, the population was about
418,000 individuals (81,892 households) with an annual
growth rate of 3.4% and a density of 2637 individuals per
km2. Geomorphology greatly inuences land use pattern,
since only at land (slope 08%) is suitable for housing and
commercial activities (Table 2). Therefore, settlement
development is mostly distributed haphazardly and concentrated along the coastline.
Six of 21 rivers discharging into Manado Bay are
running through the city. The most important of these is
the Tondano river, running from the Tondano lake in the
upland area outside Minahasa Regency (Table 3a) (JICA,
2000). About 18% of the city area is included in the
watershed of this river (Fig. 2). Also included in the city of
Manado is part of the Bunaken National Marine Park
(BNMP), where artisanal shery and tourism are important activities. The area is affected by tropical monsoon
climate with two different seasons, dry (May to October)
and rainy (November to April). Meteorological data are
shown in Table 3b.

3.2. Socio-economic aspects

More than 50% of the inhabitants have incomes of
less than Rp. 1 million (1 US$ Rp. 8500) and about 28%
of the households have been categorized as poverty
households (Mokat, 2003). Most people are employed
in either small-scale operations or as civil servants of the
local government. Unemployment is also a signicant
problem, 8.7% in 2000 (Mokat, 2003), though lower

Km2

Percentage (%)

Land use
Mixed agricultural land
Housing area
Forest and mangrove
Vacant & dry land
Commercial area
Rivers & canals
Other uses
Total area

112
33
7.4
3.3
2.8
0.8
1.7
161

69.5
20.5
4.6
2.1
1.7
0.5
1.1
100

Geomorphology
Slope 08%
Slope 840%
Slope 440%
Total area

122
37
2
161

75.8
23.0
1.2
100

Areas calculated using GIS (ArcView) and satellite imagery (SPOT XS4).
Table 3
Hydrographical conditions: (a) Water discharge of the Tondano river
(from JICA 2000); (b) Precipitation in the city of Manado (data from staff
of Station of Meteorology and Geophysics, Manado)
(a)
Discharge

19851995 (m3/s1)

1999 (m3/s1)

Maximum
Minimum
Annual mean

22
5
1417

16 (January)
13 (September)
15

(b)
Precipitation

19912000

Monthly maximum (January)

Monthly minimum (August)
Monthly mean
Annual average
Rainy days
Humidity (average 19971999)
Average temperature (19942000)

407 mm
75 mm
251 mm
20002400 mm
90120 per year
83%
26 1C

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M.T. Lasut et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 88 (2008) 11411150

Fig. 2. Tondano watershed with Manado City area.

unemployment (1.6%) was found in the present study

(Table 4).
The average economic growth was about 22.6% over the
period of 19952000 (BPSKM, 2000). Agriculture, manufacturing industry, hotels and restaurant sectors were
growing at a stable and signicant rate. Tourism has been
targeted for development and the BNMP is a promising
area for development of a tourist destination (BPSPSU,
1999), which, after a drastic decrease in connection with the
Asian economic crisis, has shown increasing trends in
recent years for both international and domestic tourists
(Table 5).

3.3. Wastewater sources, treatment and impacts

3.3.1. Sources of wastewater
Point sources identied in the city include residences,
hospitals, hotels, restaurants, garbage dumps, and aquaculture. Several of these are located close to rivers and
canals and discharge all wastewater, in most cases
including that from toilets, untreated to Manado Bay
through ditches, sewers, canals, and rivers. Non-point
sources are cultured elds, runoff from non-cultivated
land, etc., which occur both within the city and in the
hinterland of Minahasa Regency. These sources also drain

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Table 4
Household survey on socio-economic parameters (%)
Variables

Wenang District
N 304

Molas District
N 300

Age group (years)

2060
460
No information

68.1
17.4
14.5

79.7
16.0
4.3

Employment
Private company
Civil servant
Unemployed
No information

70.7
26.0
1.6
1.6

74.7
21.7

3.7

Income per month

oRp. 1 000 000
41 000 001
No information

64.5
16.2
19.4

68.7
15.6
15.7

Level of education
Primary school
Secondary school
High school
University graduate
No information

2.6
8.2
61.5
27.3
0.3

13.3
19.0
53.7
13.7
0.3

1 US$ Rp. 8500.

Table 5
Number of tourists visiting the Bunaken National Marine Park (BNMP)
in 20012005
Year

2001
2002
2003
2004
2005a
Total
Percentage

Tourism

Total

International

Domestic

5194
8263
762
9824
9495
33 538
31

9872
17 616
1901
28 177
17 857
75 423
69

15 066
25 879
2663
38 001
27 352
108 961
100

Data from Board of BNMP (pers. comm.).

a
Up to October 2005.

through the rivers and canals traversing the city to the bay.
No data are available on the amount of wastewater from
different sources.

3.3.2. Condition and capacity of on-site wastewater

treatment and sewer system
Most wastewater sources are located within the residential and commercial areas. No modern on-site system with
advanced technology has been adopted for wastewater
disposal. Most residential buildings have a private,
traditional, on-site wastewater disposal system composed
of a toilet with septic tank (one or two compartments);
alternatively, a deep hole, ditch, and/or rivers are used. The
latter is considered one of the main wastewater problems in
the city.

1145

The condition and capacity of septic tanks and wastewater infrastructure and facilities in the districts of Wenang
and Molas are shown in Table 6. Households having no
septic tank may use the communal septic tank or sewers,
canals, or rivers to discharge their toilets. Most of the
public or communal-use toilets have septic tanks in poor
condition. This is probably due to lack of funding for
maintenance or lack of awareness of the users to keep them
clean. Most of the septic tanks in Wenang district had poor
capacity. This may cause leaking to sewers, another major
wastewater problem in the city.
3.3.3. Impact of wastewater discharge
Only one study exists on pollution load and water
quality of the rivers running through the city of Manado
(Fig. 1) (Lasut et al., 2005). The data from this study were
difcult to interpret, but the measured values for most
parameters exceeded national and international quality
standards (Table 7). In addition, the rivers Malalayang,
Sario, and Tondano gave positive tests for microorganisms
(E. coli and Vibrio sp.) (PPLH-SDA Unsrat, 2000). Since
the rivers are used for washing, bathing, shing, and sh
cage culture, the discharge of untreated wastewater poses a
threat to community health. The number of cases of
wastewater-transmitted diseases observed at the Community Medical Centers in several districts of the city is
presented in Table 8. With increased economic growth and
tourism activities, the public demand for improved
sanitation levels in the urban area has also increased
(Sukarma and Pollard, 2000). Clearly the city of Manado
needs to implement a regular water quality monitoring
program for the major rivers, especially for indicators of
pollution with fecal and pathogenic microorganisms and
toxic wastes, e.g., heavy metals. Heavy metals (indicated by
Hg-tot) were detected in the water and sediment and
accumulated in marine biota (bivalve tissues) at the mouth
of the Tondano river (Table 7) (Lasut et al., 2005).
3.4. Environmental awareness
Community participation in environmental management
in North Sulawesi Province is increasing, as evidenced by
the establishment of many environmental-focus nongovernment organizations (NGOs). Also, the community
is increasingly contributing advice, criticism, and other
inputs to development activities (Sompie, 2002), directly or
indirectly through the government. However, in no case
has the community of Manado city taken an initiative to
prevent and mitigate the wastewater problems in the city.
Interviews in Wenang and Molas districts showed that
citizens are concerned about the general environmental
conditions and human impacts, including those caused by
wastewater, and they have good knowledge especially on
environmental issues related to wastewater (Table 9). In
addition, they have a positive attitude towards solving
the problems; 490% of the households disagree with
the statement that wastewater problems are either fully

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1146

Table 6
Presence, condition, and capacity of residential septictank (% of houses)
Residential
septictank

Wenang District
(n 304)
83.2
16.8

Present
Absent

Molas District (n 300)

Wanea District/Tanjung Batu

Sub-district (n 930)
85.3
14.7

75.0
25.0

Criteria for
condition and
capacity (see
Table 1 for
explanation)

Residential septictank
condition

Condition of
infrastructures and
facilities at house basis

Residential septictank capacity

Wenang
District
(n 304)

Wenang
District
(n 304)

Wenang District (n 169)

Volume per bedroom
Volume
per person

Very poor
Poor

12.2
0.3

Molas
District
(n 300)

4.3
0.3

Molas
District
(n 300)

8.2
5.9

2.3
3.0

Molas District (n 163)

Volume per
Volume
per
person
bedroom

45.0

35.0

37.4

11.2

10.4

9.8

43.9

54.6

52.8

55.0
Adequate

0.7

2.0

3.3
11.8

Good

15.1

23.3

4.9

38.0
33.1

Very good
No information

30.9
24.7

37.0
9.3

62.2
16.8

52.7
0.7

Table 7
(a) Water quality standards; (b) Water quality status of the rivers in the city of Manado
(a)

Government of Indonesia (mg/l)

Parameter

Class IIa

Class IIIb

BOD5
NO2
3
PO3
4

3
10
0.2

20
1

Hg-tot
Fecal coliform
E. coli

0.002

0.002

ASEANc (mg/l)

Internationald
(MPN)

0.06
Estuaries: 0.045
Coastal: 0.015
0.16  103
200
200

(b)
Parameter

BOD5 Dry season

BOD5 Wet season
NO2
3 Dry season
NO2
3 Wet season
PO3
4 Dry season
PO3
4 Wet season
Hg-tot Dry season
Hg-tot Wet season
Fecal coliform Dry season
Fecal coliform Wet season
E. coli Dry season
E. coli Wet season

River
Bailang

Maasing

Tondano

Malalayange

Molase

Sarioe

14.78
5.1/7.0e
1.49
0.93
1.56
1.67

42400
42400
42400
42400

19.34
14.11
2.37
1.46
2.18
2.26

42400
42400
1100
42400

12.48/16.46e
4.18
2.13
1.83
1.42
2.57
0.024
0.081
42400
42400
42400
1100

6.69

5.44

9.55

In (b), Concentrations (mg/l) are averages of measurements from 45 stations (see Fig. 1) located within the city area; fecal coliform and E. coli are MPN
(most probable number).
a
Water that may be used for recreational activities, sheries, livestock, and irrigation (Tunggal, 2002).
b
Water that may be used for sheries, livestock, and irrigation (Tunggal, 2002).
c
Marine water quality criterion for protection of aquatic life (Jusoh, 1999).
d
MPN most probable number (FAO cited in Clark, 1992).
e
Measurements from PPLH-SDA Unsrat (2000).

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a government or fully a community responsibility.

Furthermore, 495% agree that all parties (government,
community, private sectors, etc.) have a responsibility to
address the problems, and 72% and 56% in Wenang and
Molas, respectively, agree that the government may collect
funds from the community in order to improve the quality
of wastewater infrastructures and facilities.
3.5. Government institutional arrangement and regulatory
aspects
In January 2000, a national act regarding local
autonomy for resource management and institutional
arrangement was implemented. At the present time,
however, responsibility for waste management is divided
among several institutions, and no laws or regulations have
been implemented at the local level for wastewater
management. In the city of Manado, the Environmental
Management Board (EMB) is responsible for management
of wastewater (liquid waste) and this function is separated
from the Cleaning Management Board (CMB), which has
responsibility for management of solid wastes. Both
institutions are under the Mayors Ofce. The City
Table 8
Cases of diseases in Manado City in 2002a
Districts (sub-districts) Diarrhea
Molas (Tuminting)
Wenang (Tikala Baru)
Sario (Ranotana)
Malalayang (Bahu)
City hospital

Dermatitis Gastritis
c

513 (58 /48 ) 1618

1250
27
253
288
777
1075
2725

Typhoid
c

196 /272

10b,c

a
The data were collected at Puskesmas (communitys medical centre) in
each district.
b
OctoberDecember 2002.
c
JanuaryApril 2003.

1147

Company for the Market is the technical agency responsible for solid waste management within the market area.
At the provincial level of North Sulawesi, the Provincial
Agency of Environmental Impact Control Board
(PAEICB) is only responsible for coordination of management and control of pollution, including the marine
environment. At the national level, the National Agency
for Environmental Impact Management (NAEIM) under
the Ministry of Environment (MoE) is responsible for
implementing pollution control, including the marine
environment, as well as for managing the environmental
impact assessment (EIA) process. National wastewater
quality standards for various sectors (industries, hotels,
hospitals, petrochemical activities) exist. ICM is the
responsibility of the Ministry of Marine Affairs and
Fisheries and thus has been focused mainly on natural
resource management (Christie, 2005).

3.6. Policies, strategies, and actions

Some measures of environmental management related to
wastes and wastewater have been established at the
national level in Agenda 21 of Indonesia (period of
19982020), as well as at the provincial level in Agenda
21 of North Sulawesi Province. The Agenda 21 strategies
for wastewater management at the provincial level are to
increase public service and improve the wastewater
treatment facilities. The planned actions include establishing a central wastewater treatment system at the long-term
level, and improving the current systems over short and
intermediate terms, both for individual and communal
facilities. Establishing a central wastewater treatment
system with appropriate technology for households in
densely populated areas will be included in the future
action plan (Bapedal-SU, 2003). However, in the city of
Manado few measures have been established, and only in

Table 9
Communitys environmental awareness (knowledgea and attitudeb) in the Wenang and Molas districts of Manado city
Components and issues

Percentage of the aggregatedc aspects

A. Knowledge
Knowledge about general
environmental issues
Knowledge about environmental
issues related to wastewater

Wenang
Molas
Wenang
Molas

N
304
300
304
300

Yes
49.0
27.3
88.8
80.0

No
51.0
72.7
11.2
20.0

Mode
No
No
Yes
Yes

Wenang
Molas
Wenang
Molas

N
139
145
139
145

vc
15.8
23.4
18.0
20.7

c
47.5
61.4
57.6
56.6

ltc
32.4
13.1
20.9
18.6

B. Attitude
Concern about general environmental
conditions and impacts
Concern about environmental
conditions and impacts related to
wastewater

lsc
3.6
2.1
3.6
3.4

ntc
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0

nif
0.7
0.0
0.0
0.7

Mode
c
c
c
c

N: number of respondents; vc: very concerned; c: concerned; ltc: somewhat concerned; lsc: less concerned; ntc: not concerned; nif: no information; Mode:
statistical calculation.
a
Based on interview with head of household.
b
Based on interviews with individual residents.
c
Each issue was addressed by several questions.

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a partial sense as tactical actions for short-term periods

(Tamon, 2003).
4. Constraints and potentials analysis
Based on the above information we have identied
constraints and potentials. The constraints are generally
related to the rapid population growth and unplanned
development, whereas potentials are associated with
economic growth and the communitys environmental
awareness and willingness to participate in solving wastewater problems.
As the population of the city will continue to grow, so
will the demand for space for settlement with proper public
infrastructures and facilities, including for wastewater
handling. The limited amount of suitable land (Table 2)
causes haphazard distribution of residential and commercial areas, especially along the coast. The result is
formation of slum areas (4250 individuals/0.01 km2),
which have been identied in three districts of the city
(Kumurur, 2002a), including the districts of the present
study.
The unplanned development and uncertainty of spatial
planning cause practical problems of land use changes in
the city. Thus, development of land reclamation for
settlements has been changed so that 95% is used for
commercial activities (hotels, restaurants, malls, a.o.) in the
coastal area (Kumurur, 2002b), and the area originally set
apart for marine eco-tourism has been changed to a
commercial area. This is likely to cause problems if these
activities do not have proper wastewater treatment systems
and discharge their sewage directly to the coastal water.
The population pressure drives increasing amounts of
wastewater and, due to the low household income, most
housing developments are constructed with no or poor
standard of wastewater disposal and treatment systems.
Most domestic wastewater has the potential to pollute not
only the urban but also the coastal environment because
the wastewater always contains high concentrations of
human and animal fecal material containing pathogenic
microorganisms.
Hospitals and other public buildings also discharge
sewage, except from toilets, directly to the coastal waters
through sewers that show high concentrations of wastewater indicators and furthermore contain toxic substances
(Table 7). There is no system in place for control and
monitoring of pollution from any sources; nor are there
guidelines for setting up such a system. The developers or
businesses are advised to do self-monitoring and controlling the impacts identied in their EIA. This may easily act
as constraints for the management.
The non-point sources of wastewater from the hinterland
of the regency of Minahasa are predicted to cause
signicant problems, but they are difcult to measure and
no data are available.
At the city level, the institutional arrangement with
separate agencies responsible for liquid and solid wastes is

clearly inadequate, even if both institutions improve their

function. Moreover, the EMB has not yet established any
regulations.
The communitys environmental awareness has potential
regarding wastewater management. The community can be
asked for their participation, including nancial support as
most of them are positive, but it is clear that government
should assist them by improving the public infrastructures
and facilities for wastewater discharge. So far the community has not participated in the management. This is
probably because they have not been given this option by
the government, and there are no signs that the government
intends to help the community. Recently, the community
has been asked to collect money for garbage handling.
However, the problem of garbage handling remains
unsolved.
The establishment of policy measures as mentioned in
Agenda 21 can be seen as a potential for wastewater
management, both at national and provincial levels.
However, it can also be a constraint, as the city has not
applied them yet.
5. Suitable options of wastewater management strategy
From the analyses presented above, suitable options for
a wastewater management strategy for the city of Manado
could be formulated fullling the following general
objectives: (1) protecting the health of citizens from
pollution and unhygienic conditions of wastewater;
(2) protecting water quality of canals, rivers, and coastal
area to support aquatic life, shery and coastal resources.
For the formulation we considered: (1) natural settings and
land use of the city of Manado, and (2) the dynamics of the
population, economy and commercial activities of the
urban area. As the environmental condition of the city is
closely related to conditions of the coastal waters of MB,
the coastal environment should be assessed and the
planning of wastewater management should be included
in the ICM process.
A decentralized system provides simple, low-cost and
low maintenance methods of treating domestic wastewater
(Burkhard et al., 2000). Since lack of nance is one of the
main problems, such a system constitutes a suitable and
possible solution to be applied in the city of Manado.
Several models have been suggested for small communities
ranging from the smallest, single household system to
larger systems for a small community (Bakir, 2001). The
smallest system is suitable for low-income residential areas,
especially those sparsely populated and distributed haphazardly in the city.
A small-scale conventional or modern wastewater
treatment plant with low-level technology that can serve
for a cluster of buildings is suitable for commercial centers
(hotels, restaurants, and small industry), institutional
buildings (hospitals, laboratories) and garbage dumps in
the city. Clustered residential buildings, as those along
the coastline of MB, are also suitable for such a system.

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M.T. Lasut et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 88 (2008) 11411150

The system may comprise several small subsystems for

collection, treatment and reuse or disposal systems
(Massoud et al., 2003). The size of each subsystem should
be determined administratively based on drainage boundaries and prevailing social and economic conditions (Bakir,
2001). It is important for the success of this type of system
that there are clear regulations identifying who will be
responsible for the operation and management of such a
wastewater treatment plant. Several models exist that may
be suitable for adoption by the city: (1) agency, i.e.,
operation and management of wastewater implemented by
selected local authority(ies) on an agency or local basis;
(2) private operation, i.e., the plant fully owned and
managed by private sector; (3) local government, i.e., the
facilities managed by the local authority and owned by the
public; (4) PS & PSP, i.e., the facilities owned by the public
sector (PS), but managed by private enterprise (PSP)
(Tsagarakis et al., 2001).
Four strategic actions to be included in plans for
wastewater management have been suggested for decentralized systems in a city. Some of them are based on the
lessons learned from small communities in the Middle
East and North Africa (Bakir, 2001): (1) providing and
improving on-site wastewater treatment system and sanitation; (2) improving governments institutional arrangement; (3) improving communitys participation; and
(4) establishing regulations and enforcing them. Each of
these strategic actions may form constraints to management measures, but they may be used as an entry-point for
establishing such management. Hence we present below
each of the four actions with appropriate modications for
the implementation.
5.1. Providing and improving on-site wastewater treatment
system and sanitation
Improvements of existing on-site wastewater systems to
good standard and proper technology should be done by
each household and owner of commercial buildings, in
which case no tax or retribution needs to be levied by the
government authority. However, low-income households
need to be subsidized for obtaining such system. This
action may also be seen as a measure to improve sanitation
and pollution control.
5.2. Improving governments institutional arrangement
Rearrangement of government institutions is recommended. A management board should be set up, including
the CMB, Public Works Agency (technical expertise),
Public Health Agency and other associated institutions and
with the EMB as the coordinator.
5.3. Improving communitys participation
Although community participation is considered a
potential, the awareness specically related to wastewater

1149

management is still insufcient. Therefore, it is important

to increase and improve participation and awareness, e.g.,
through distribution of information, establishing wastewater-related program, and community involvement in
controlling and monitoring of wastewater management
activities. Such activities are important to prevent failures
due to theft and vandalism observed elsewhere in the
operation of wastewater treatment plants (Tsagarakis
et al., 2001).
5.4. Establishing regulations and enforcement
Requirements and regulations for residential and commercial buildings for design and standard of on-site
wastewater systems should be established, as well as
guidelines of a standard system for commercial buildings
(hotels, hospitals, shopping centers, and restaurants).
Enforcement should be applied with sanctions to parties
who disobey the regulations. Any party who produces
wastewater must be held responsible for not discharging
anything that will negatively impact the receiving water,
and, if impacts occur, sanctions (administrative, ne, reestablishment or improvement, and punishment) should be
imposed.
6. Conclusions
In the present study the constraints and potentials for
formulating and designing a wastewater management plan
for the city of Manado are analysed. Constraints are
formed by: (1) natural settings, which inuence land
use changes, (2) the rapid increase of population, (3) the
frequency of low-income households, (4) the variety of
wastewater sources, (5) the poor condition and capacity of
wastewater disposal and treatment systems, (6) institutional arrangement of government, and (7) lack or
inadequacy of local regulations and policies. Potentials
include (1) good environmental awareness of the community, (2) government institutions at provincial and national
levels, and (3) the established regulations and policy
measures of Agenda 21.
Considering these constraints and potentials, community
involvement should be increased through an environmental
education program. Also, wastewater management should
be an integrated effort of all involved agencies at city,
regency, provincial and national levels. Policies and
regulations from Agenda 21 should be implemented at city
level.
Acknowledgments
This paper is part of the rst authors doctoral
dissertation research. The nancial support of the
Danish International Development Assistance (DANIDA)
through the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) and
the Integrated Tropical Coastal Zone Management
(ITCZM) Program is gratefully acknowledged. We would

ARTICLE IN PRESS
1150

M.T. Lasut et al. / Journal of Environmental Management 88 (2008) 11411150

like to thank Prof. Bobby Polii from PPLH-SDA,

Sam Ratulangi University Manado-Indonesia, and
Mr. Tenda Wungow for assistance with GIS analysis.
Further thanks to Mr. Roy Pangalila from WWF Manado
and to Ms. V. Kumurur for unpublished information.
We would also like to thank Prof. C. Kwei Lin, Prof.
Chongrak Polprasert, and Dr. Amararatne Yakupitiyage
from AIT for inputs and discussions of the initial stages of
the research.
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