The Engineers View

Written by: Amabelle Pector

It always seems like only students in the classroom are asked about ethical questions and how they will respond to certain situations. In this paper, a professional engineer was interviewed on his response to some ethical issues that is related to his field of work. Engr. Elmer Brent Cauton is the Water Supply Operations Engineer at Maynilad Water Services, Inc. He ensures that water quality of the company is within the prescribed limits per Philippine National Standards for Drinking Water. He also monitors the performance of the plant. To ensure that the company follows the rules and regulations set by the Clean Water Act, constant monitoring of the water supply is done using several equipments. The company monitors the turbidity, pH and residual chlorine. Also, metal analysis, bacteriological tests and biological tests are done. Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004 protects the bodies of water of the country by monitoring the effluents produced, especially on industrial and commercial establishments, as well as agriculture and community and household activities. It sets rules and regulations that must be complied with for every industrial sector. When asked, if there are any instance that the company have had encountered any problem when it comes to obeying the standards of the

act. He honestly said that there are times when they almost have had problems controlling the standards of their water supply. These cases happen during typhoons and rainy season. He said that, during these times, raw water turbidity is very high that it reaches beyond the design limits of the plant. However, this was almost always the case every year, that the engineers exert more effort during these times to prevent further damage to water sources. He also admitted that the company had experienced receiving penalties for not abiding by the standards of the act. He stated one example such as that of their sludge management area wherein the company pays fines when the plant was not able to meet the effluent standards of the DENR. He was also asked a hypothetical question that what will he do if he discovers that the company allowed to release wastes or supply that did not meet the standards of Clean Water Act. Will he report the incident to authorities with the possibility of him losing his job or will he just let the incident pass by? He answered that he had already been involved in the said situation and he reported the incident to authorities. He said that ignoring the incident would lead to catastrophic results in the future. However, he said that his job was retained because he did not disclose his identity and only the top management knows about the said incident.