Draw action plans to take care of your rivers – Sagah
KUCHING: Riverine communities have been called to become the key agents of change when it comes to addressing problems related to their areas such as river pollution.
Assistant Minister for Public Utilities ( Water Supply) Datuk Roland Sagah Wee Inn says every village needs to develop its own action plan to improve the condition of their rivers.
The plan could include aggressive awareness and education campaigns among the villagers, followed by actions such cleaning and rehabilitating the river landscape.
“It is critical to remember that everyone has a role to play. For example, the riverine communities need to be innovative to be able to create, develop and manage their river system,” he said at the prize presentation of the ‘ River Cleanliness and Landscape Competition for Tarat State Constituency’ event at Kampung Pesang, Padawan near Serian on
It is critical to remember that everyone has a role to play. For example, the riverine communities need to be innovative to be able to create, develop and manage their river system. Datuk Roland Sagah Wee Inn, Assistant Minister for Public Utilities (Water Supply)
Saturday.
Sagah, who is Tarat assemblyman, said he initiated this competition in 2011 with the aim of seeing rivers across his constituency properly managed in view of them being the core source of clean water and freshwater fish.
He said as chairman of Sarawak Rivers Board during that time, he noticed that many rivers were facing a number of environmental problems.
This, he noted, was despite the fact that more than half of potable water for human consumption came from rivers.
“In some extreme cases, some of the rivers were unsuitable for basic uses as fishing and swimming – let alone for drinking.
“If before, these rivers were the source of our drinking water, places for us to bath and swim… then why are they no longer suitable for us now?
“To continue to benefit from these rivers, we should organise activities that would lead to healthy rivers in your villages,” he said.
On the competition, Sagah acknowledged that although the number of entries had been increasing every year, he wanted more villages to take part.
It is learned that only 18 out of about 60 villages in Tarat took part in the competition this year.
“Where are the rest? Are you not aware of the importance of rivers and clean water in your life?
“The rivers where you live at can become the alternative source of potable water should there be any disruption of clean water supply from the treatment plant,” he said.
Sagah also thanked 14 state government departments and agencies for their active involvement in the river cleanliness and landscape competition over the past seven years.
He believed that the layout set by these stakeholders had helped the participating villages understand what needed to be done by them, as well as where and how they should do it.
This year, Kampung Praya Padawan claimed the ‘ Special Award’ category to walk away with RM7,000 while Kampung Tarat Mawang emerged champion of the ‘ Normal’ category, earning RM6,000.
The Special Award category was for past champions, while the Normal category was for villages that never won the top prizes.
The runner-up of the Special Category received RM4,000, while those placing second and third in the Normal category bagged RM4,000 and RM2,500, respectively.
Three villages received RM500 each as consolation prize for the Normal category.