Air, soil and Water Quality Disposition

Air in Muñoz is generally safe to breathe particularly in the countryside. In the urban areas where vehicles, especially tricycles abound, air along major routes and in the commercial areas is slightly contaminated with the fumes coming from their exhaust.

Generally, Soil in Muñoz is productive enhanced by the chemical fertilizers added to it. However, in order to improve and restore the best quality of the soil in the farmlands, farmers are encouraged to use the organic fertilizer, which is also cheaper than the commercial inorganic ones.

The concessionaires of the Muñoz Water District particularly in the poblacion barangays enjoy a relatively safe drinking water. Other barangays however, have to get their water supply from shallow tube well pumps or from other unsafe sources, such as open wells or irrigation pumps.

The usual practice in disposing wastewater in the city is directing it to drainage canals.

Drainage and Wastewater

Drainage canals in the city proper consists of concrete tubes, 36 diameter and installed underground with covered manholes along major streets. Drainage canals outside the city proper consist only of open channels dug along both sides of the roads. Waste runoff waters from these canals flow to a nearby creek.

There is no wastewater treatment plant in Muñoz.

Solid waste

It is estimated that the city generates 50 tons of wastes daily, 75% of which come from households and 25% are market wastes. It is also estimated that 70% of the wastes are compostable, 27% are recyclable and 3% residual. Collection is done daily by the local government using two (2) garbage trucks and dump truck. Wastes are not segregated but dumped on an open dumpsite in Barangay Catalanacan, four (4) kilometers away from the Poblacion.

The city government intends to pursue its policy/plan to close all open dumpsites and shift toward sanitary landfill and other environmentally sound alternatives.

Presently, the city government is pursuing the implementation of a project where waste segregation and recycling at source and the establishment of a material recovery facility (MRF) shall be employed.

It maybe worth mentioning that Muñoz was chosen as one of the three (3) pilot areas for the implementation of the “Solid Waste Management Project”. It is also planned that the service area of the proposed MRF/SWMP be the whole 2nd District of Nueva Ecija, comprising of six municipalities and two cities.

Muñoz is home to DENR’s CENRO North Nueva Ecija Office where the city has linked/asked cooperation toward the realization of our environmental projects. The DENR Office, a member-agency of the Science Community, has been very cooperative in extending support to the city particularly in its environmental endeavors.

Muñoz has organized its own Environmental and Natural Resources Office headed and supported by personnel of the local DA Office, and complemented by personnel of the Engineering and Planning Offices.

Forest Protection and Conservation

There are at least 62 hectares of public land located at the hilly/mountainous portions of the city that are presently considered as the site of the proposed national tissue culture center, where seedlings of dipterocarps will be produced/cloned for distribution/sale to interested LGUs to green their respective community. The seedlings will be used to reforest and to make lush the balding mountainous public lands of Muñoz. The seedlings will also be planted along both sides of the major and minor roads leading to the city from the barangays.

Biodiversity and Protected Areas

As mentioned, the city government plans to reforest the balding mountainous areas of Muñoz. It also plans to employ/pioneer in Sloping Agricultural Land Technology) farming in the region. It also plans to establish the agri-aqua Forestville project and the Science City Theme Park in the area.