KUCHING: Assistant Minister of Urban Development and Resources Datuk Len Talif Salleh believes there are no ‘dead’ rivers in Sarawak thus far.
He said that while a few rivers including Padungan River here were badly polluted, they were still not categorised as ‘dead’.
“The condition of rivers in Sarawak is not that bad as the state government has made a lot of effort to improve the quality of the water in the river systems, including introducing a Centralised Sewerage System (CSS).
“With this CSS, all blackwater is treated before being released into the river system,” he said when met by reporters at the launch of a seminar on ‘River Pollution and Conservation’ at a hotel here yesterday.
He said that in the past, septic tanks had been used, but these would be phased out in the years to come.
“We start with big buildings first, so the sewerage from these buildings will go straight to the CSS. Before all this waste is released into the river, it has to meet certain standards,” assured Len Talif.
He said that the programme had not been extended to domestic houses yet but that would be the next stage.
He could not give a specific time frame as the cost was high, hence local residents would be resistant to the introduction of service charges. Thus, educational programmes would have to be conducted to explain the system to the public.
“It is better to spend the money now rather than having to do remedial efforts in the future,” he emphasised.
Len Talif said the state government has been running educational programmes with villagers living along rivers to educate them against dumping rubbish into rivers.
He pointed out that the rivers in Sarawak such as Bintangor River were improving in their water quality.
