CM to direct water authorities to improve control of catchment areas

KUCHING: Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg will instruct the water authorities in the state to improve their control over the water catchment areas to prevent pollution.

Abang Johari said this when commenting on the first series of the Auditor-General’s Report 2016 which wanted the state authorities on water to work together with the Natural Resources and Environment Board to find immediate solution on the 18 rivers identified as water catchment areas but now semi-polluted.

“I will ask the water supply department to look into this (matter) and further improve the catchment areas so that they will not be polluted. We will study this matter and I will direct the department to further improve their control,” he told reporters after launching the 29th Kuching City Day at Stadium Perpaduan, here, yesterday.

When asked for his view on the other aspects of the audit report, Abang Johari said he would need to go through and study the report in more detail.

“I have not read all the reports in detail yet and only on the water catchment areas only.”

Meanwhile, the AG’s Report also urged the water authorities to gazette all water catchment areas as soon as possible to prevent prohibited activities from jeopardising water quality.

“The water authorities in the state must conduct enforcement on the prohibited activities in the water catchment areas that are gazetted with the cooperation from the Land and Survey Department Sarawak and Forest Department,” it said.

According to the Environment Quality Report by the Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB), 18 rivers identified as water catchment areas are now categorised as semi-polluted and in need of treatment.

It said a total of 58 water catchment areas had been identified but yet to be gazetted, which hampered enforcement, monitoring and recovery efforts.

As of the end of 2016, the water authorities in the state had identified 90 water catchment areas and 105 water treatment plants throughout Sarawak, covering an area of 158,591 square kilometres.

The monitoring and enforcement activities conducted were found to be insufficient to keep an eye on prohibited activities from being conducted within eight-kilometre radius from the face of the water catchment areas, the AG report stated.

According to the report, the capacity of the water treatment plants for Limbang, Kuching, Samarahan and Bintulu were found to be insufficient compared to the water demand at this time, while the Batu Kitang Water Treatment Plant for Kuching as well as part of Samarahan was also expected to face difficulty in fulfilling the demand for clean water supply in 2020.