SUNGAI PINANG can only be filth-free if Penangites stop treating it as a rubbish dump.

The fishing community that has lived by the river bank for decades are upset that their home has been used as a dump for years.

Welcoming reports that the river would be devoid of garbage within three years, Shaaban Che Amat, 60, said some 100 fishermen living there were tired of the recurring flash floods and pollution.

“It’s good that the Penang Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) has been cleaning and dredging the river but sometimes, the work is not done well.

“For instance, when the soil is dredged, it is not removed from the river but merely transferred to the other side of the bank and when rubbish accumulates, we are back to square one — our boats cannot go out to sea and we are stuck for hours in shallow waters.

“Sometimes after a heavy downpour, you can find old television sets, furniture and huge black plastic bags floating near our boats by the jetty.

“The river can be rubbish-free but only if Penangites stop treating it as a dump,” he said when met at the Sungai Pinang jetty in Jelutong, Penang, yesterday.

Shaaban, who has been a fisherman there for the last three decades, said he often saw people getting out from their vehicles parked beside the road, to dump bags of rubbish into the river.

Mohd Shariff Abu Bakar, 60, agreed.

“We grew up in Kampung Selut by the Sungai Pinang river bank and I remember there being lots of prawns, fishes and crabs but that was 20 years ago.

“It seems like the more developed we become, the dirtier our habits are,” he said.

Amir Ali Basamiah, 64, said everyone must work together if Sungai Pinang is to be clean again like it was before the 1970s.

“It was only in the 1970s when an abattoir, car workshops and factories started mushrooming here and it marked the start of Sungai Pinang’s woes,” he said.

Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) Public Health Standing Committee alternate chairman Ong Ah Teong said the council was diligently working to clean up George Town under the state’s ‘Cleaner, Greener, Penang’ campaign.

“There is strong emphasis on the roads and drainage systems because it is related to flash floods.

“Some garbage traps in the river and litter hotspots especially those around the river banks are cleared daily,” he said.

From being among the ‘stinking seven’ most polluted rivers in the country five years ago, Sungai Pinang is slowly but surely making its way to Class II from its present Class III Water Quality Index rating and the DID is aiming to make Sungai Pinang waste-free by 2015.

Sungai Pinang had been categorised as a Class III river since 2008 but in September 2007, it received the MS ISO 14001:2004 Environmental Management System certification for its river management.

The river was classified under Class V as most polluted with no marine life before an initial allocation of RM20mil was spent on the first phase of rehabilitation which was completed in 2007.

So filthy was the river then that when Sungai Pinang assemblyman Koid Teng Guan jumped into a dirty shallow end to get mud and water samples, he ended up seeking medical treatment for the rashes on his feet.

State Health, Welfare, Caring Society and Environment Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh said it was unfair to blame those living along Sungai Pinang for the floating garbage.

“It’s a Catch-22 situation because when there are flash floods, garbage from the litter-filled roads are washed into the river which in turn, clog up the waterway and when there’s another heavy downpour, flash floods would recur.

“Since 2009, the state government has engaged the community, private sector, non-governmental organisations and relevant government departments on an awareness campaign to clean up the river.

“The state government’s message is very clear — we are determined to act against those who pollute the river but we want to make them understand the importance of keeping the river clean as it also helps prevent flash floods from occurring,” he said.

Phee said individuals and business premises in the area had been issued notices indicating that those caught discharging effluents would be compounded a minimum of RM10,000.

A three-year project to enhance community participation in the protection and rehabilitation of the severely polluted Sungai Pinang was launched in July last year.

The RM100,000 Sungai Pinang River Care project, to be carried out in phases, is funded by HSBC Bank Malaysia Berhad in partnership with Global Environment Centre.

On June 25, DID director Anuar Yahya said waste collected from the 3.1km-long river was reduced by more than 50% with the implementation of the Sungai Pinang River Care project.

He said currently, the amount of rubbish collected from the river had significantly reduced to nine tonnes per month compared to that of previous years.

Phee said two main milestones which led to the cleaner river were the closure of the island’s last remaining rubber factory in March and the diversion of waste water from a nearby abattoir directly to the IWK waste treatment plant in Jelutong.

The factory was identified as one of the causes of the river’s pollution.

It had caused air and water pollution by discharging effluents into Sungai Dondang which flowed into Sungai Air Itam and subsequently Sungai Pinang.

He said the state government was working closely with the fisheries department and fish breeders to identify a suitable species for the river.

“We want to introduce fishes into the river to further help clean it up but the species chosen must not be harmful to the eco-system. We are looking at ‘non-aggressive’ fishes that feed on plankton and not each other,” he said.

Rainwater from Sungai Dondang and Sungai Air Itam flows into Sungai Pinang, causing the river banks to burst so every time there’s prolonged rain, those living nearby spend sleepless nights worrying about waking up in knee-deep water.

With squatter relocation still a problem for the RM150mil Sungai Pinang flood mitigation project, a clean waterway is crucial as a clogged river littered with rubbish has made Sungai Pinang the most flash flood-friendly area in Penang.

To check on Sungai Pinang’s updated water quality index readings, visit www.sungaipinang.wqms.info.

Source: The Star