Water Pollution - Some Good News

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Hi
the following article from yesterday's Star newspaper is about a river in Penang. Yes there is a long way to go but at least things have started.
Cheers 

Friday November 6, 2009
Water’s clearer in Sungai Pinang
By MANJIT KAUR

Educational: School children at the Water Quality Awareness and Enhancement programme held in conjunction with Malaysia Environment Week at the DID's Sungai Pinang Information Centre at Lorong Kulit yesterday looking at a model of the Sungai Pinang river.

SUNGAI Pinang, one of the seven most polluted rivers in the country, is to be removed from the polluted rivers list next year when it achieves classification under the Class Three category.

Penang Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) director Hanapi Mohamad Noor said the water quality in the river was better compared to the previous years.

He said as Sungai Juru was now out of the polluted list under the Environment Quality Report by the Department of Environment, it was their task to ensure Sungai Pinang achieve the same status.

Hanapi said the DID hoped to ensure Sungai Pinang was classified under Class Two by 2015, which means the water needed to undergo treatment before it could be used for bathing and consumption, and that fish, prawns and crabs could survive in it.

He said Sungai Pinang water index was currently at the border of Class Three, and DID was con-fident of achieving its target by next year.

“We have a RM500,000 allocation both from the federal and state governments for Sungai Pinang.

“We have placed four Continuous Deflection Separation (CDS) Systems to separate rubbish, oil and grease. The effective micro-organism (EM) mudballs thrown into the river has helped clean up the sludge at the riverbed and the smell of a dirty river,” he told reporters after Health, Welfare, Caring Society and Environment Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh launched the Water Quality Awareness and Enhancement programme in conjunction with Malaysia Environment Week at the DID’s Sungai Pinang Information Centre at Lorong Kulit on Wednesday.

Hanapi said the CDS method, a pilot project for rivers in the state, has also been placed at Sungai Jelutong and Sungai Air Itam.

“Water from these rivers are channelled to Sungai Pinang and therefore it was necessary to treat the source as well.

“Fish fry have been spotted in Sungai Pinang and this means we are heading in the right direction,” he added.

Phee said he hoped Sungai Pinang could be classified as Class Two by 2010 instead of 2015.

“This is not only the task for DID but also the people who must also play their part to help this dream come true,” he said.

He said the state government has set up resource centres at all the five districts to create awareness on EM.

“We have been successful in getting rid of sludge at Sungai Kelian and Sungai Mas, and now the rivers are so beautiful,” he added.

Over at the DID Information Centre, Hanapi also showed Phee a RM20,000 bio-bin machine that had turned leftover food that had been collected by nearby hawker centres into fertilisers.

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Hi
I thought I'd do some more research and came across this wonderful pictorial trip down the Sungai Pinang. The river starts in the Penang Hills and then flows through the Botanical gardens before winding its way down to the sea. One point I should make is that there is nothing wrong with a brown river. It may not look as nice as the rivers of Europe that flow through volcanic landscapes but it is just the sediment. (Unless of course earthworks disturb the landscape and increase the sediment flow,)
Anyway enjoy the trip down river and imagine yourself afloat with Ratty and Mole.
Cheers 

http://forestexplorers.blogspot.com/2008/05/deplorable-sungai-pinang.html

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hi,

Many thanks for that, donohue, it was an enjoyable ride. Forestexplorers is an interesting site. I liked the idea of Ratty and Mole.

I'll see if I can find something similar for the Perak River which is fairly wide and suitable for Huck and Tom.

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From Today's New Straits Times.
Don't miss the last paragraph !!


Millions spent, but river still a dump

2009/11/14

By Satiman Jamin

JOHOR BARU: After millions of ringgit spent in the past one year to rehabilitate Sungai Skudai and its tributaries, the river is still a filthy dump -- literally.

Sungai Skudai, along with Sungai Segget and Sungai Tebrau, were part of a RM900 million river rehabilitation programme announced last year.

But the river's water is still teh tarik-coloured and rafts of rubbish are still floating in Sungai Skudai.

Residents who depend on the river for their living, have questioned whether the project had actually taken off.

Orang Asli of the Seletar tribe at Kampung Bakar Batu Danga feel the river had actually worsened in the past year, especially with development projects being carried out at the river.

Fisherman Udi Ki, 35, was cynical when asked about the condition of Sungai Danga, a major tributary of Sungai Skudai.

He said the only "improvement" was that now Orang Asli children collect plastic bottles and other scrap, instead of fish, from the river to be sold.

"We can't even cast our fishing nets now because all sorts of rubbish gets tangled in it."

He also pointed to a gaping gash on a nearby riverbank, where a bridge was being built as part of the Johor Baru-Nusajaya coastal highway project -- an example of development projects being carried out at the river.

"Red earth is allowed to crumble into the river and when it rains the water looks like a frothing river of teh tarik," he said.

Another villager Suni Jenol, 35, said they had seen rubbish traps installed at several locations along the river but the trapped rubbish was never collected.

He said the rubbish would break free once the traps were full.

Suni added that the villagers' outboard boat engines were frequently damaged when the propeller hit submerged debris in the river.

"The rubbish-filled water had not only wiped out the marine life in the river but has also 'strangled' our outboard engines," he said.

The flow of rubbish at the river has not gone unnoticed by Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman.


In a statement available at the state government website (http://www.johordt.gov.my), he said that 41,000 tonnes of rubbish ran through Sungai Skudai annually.

The statement also mentioned that RM90 million was allocated to tackle Sungai Skudai's solid waste problem.

It was learnt that a contract to clean up the river was given out by the Iskandar Regional Development Authority earlier this year but the contractor had run into some problems.

 

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hi,

From Today's New Straits Times.
Don't miss the last paragraph !!

Fisherman Udi Ki, 35, was cynical when asked about the condition of Sungai Danga, a major tributary of Sungai Skudai. The statement also mentioned that RM90 million was allocated to tackle Sungai Skudai's solid waste problem. It was learnt that a contract to clean up the river was given out by the Iskandar Regional Development Authority earlier this year but the contractor had run into some problems.

Cynical fisherman. Allocation RM90M. Got problems.

I was reading an article in today's The Star newspaper where the writer was wondering why so many tourists go to Singapore but give Malaysia a miss. I was thinking that it's because of rubbish everywhere, filthy vehicle exhausts, and dirty public and private transport. I could add-in filthy rivers. All the money that MoTour spends on advertising pristine beaches when the word-of-mouth is "nice country, nice people, and cheap, but who fancies a holiday in a rubbish bin."

It's better than it was 10 years ago when all of Malaysia's rivers were too polluted for any sustainable form of life. Although folks still fished in them.

River Basin Initiative : Malaysia
"In year 2006, the number of rivers in the cleanest category was almost double that of 2005.The number of polluted river basins were also down by more than half. Only seven of Malaysia’s 146 river basins were categoried as polluted in year 2006, down from 15 the year before. All the polluted river basins were in Peninsular Malaysia, with Johor topping the list."
http://www.riverbasin.org/index.cfm?&menuid=81&parentid=51

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I did hear recently that the Gurney Drive area in Penang was to be serviced by a garbage collection marine vehicle just like Singapore's waterways. Has anyone heard of this and when the service start?

I thought I spied said vehicle about 300 metres off Gurney Drive but it turned out to be a lone palm tree complete with roots.

Bob

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Hi
there was an article in today's Star newspaper lamenting how the Penang dams are only around 85% full. Nothing to worry about in the short term but it was this comment that took my eye. After I got up off the floor I thought ...is it for real??

He said during the dry spell, it was not necessary to ask the maid to wash the car twice daily or use too much water to water the lawn.

For those who are worried that they will have to wash in tonic water or perrier water here is a link to the full article:

http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2010/2/19/north/5700987&sec=North

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We live in Putra Marine on the Gold Coast, we have a river/outlet next to our condi., and the amount of rubbish that comes down after a heavy rain has to be seen to be believed, literal tons of the stuff.
I have no idea what the condition of the water is but a new beach was inaugurated a few hundred metres away last year, trees where planted, a sign erected etc.,  and the council seem to have 2 permanent cleaners on this beach, but on a weekend its packed with locals who think its normal to leave rubbish everywhere!, perhaps a publicity campaign might do more good.
I walked along Jomtien beach in Thailand last week and the local expats had put up signs on every lamppost and tree! saying something along the lines as "this is our beach, keep it clean, take your rubbish home!" and it seemed to be working. Good idea?, Regards Rob