By Cyrus A. Natividad

(left) University Webmaster and Sustainable Campus Committee member Mr. Mark Clemens Ortaliz and (right) Occupational Safety Officer and Sustainable Campus Committee Chairperson Mr. Prim Vergara II during the releasing of tilapia fingerlings in the Alumni pond.

The old pond in the Alumni Garden near the Stuart Hall has become a center of scientific application on wastewater conversion called Hydroponics. With wastewater falling into it, the pond is a valuable source of water for vegetables and ornamental plants, according to members of the CPU Sustainable Campus Committee led by Mr. Prim Vergara III, Occupational Safety Officer, Pollution Control Officer and Technical Assistant to the University President, and Mr. Mark J. Ortaliz, University Webmaster and Committee Member.

The Committee previously conducted a benchmarking activity by visiting Silliman University and St. Paul’s University in Dumaguete City. One of their findings is that these universities consider their ponds as laboratories, particularly for Biology and other science subjects.

According to Vergara, the outcome of their benchmarking activity is that the Sustainable Campus Committee developed a “fish lair” in the hydroponic pond now known as the Aquaponics Pond. It is equipped with pumps and air compressors. “We initially put in Tilapia fish in the pond,” he added. The project will become a biological laboratory for science students of CPU and another attraction to the University.

Vergara also said that they are studying the possibility of installing another Aquaphonic system under the University flagpole.