Tag Archives: river pollution

The Real Meaning of ‘Water is Life’

On World Water Day this 22 March, ecosystem restoration activist Kennedy Michael brings us on a journey of rivers, dams and our role as polluters.

RIVERS. THE watering pipes of mountains and forests and fields and factories. Bringing us fresh and clean water (once upon a time, now maybe not so) from the highest elevations to the lowest lands.

The shift from hunting and gathering to agrarian societies that signalled the start of early civilizations was centred around the fresh water brought by rivers.

And just as it did 6,000 years ago, it remains today for us the main source of our civilization.

(Feature pic: Raw water is carried through main supply pipes from the Klang Gates Dam to the water treatment plants in Wangsa Maju and Bukit Nanas  |  Pic by Alliance for River Three)

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Costs Rise For All to Green Pig Farms

Pig farmers must install expensive wastewater treatment systems to curb environmental pollution. Add this to rising costs and diseases, and alarm bells ring about pork prices and supply. Part 2 of 2.

THERE ARE many ways an interview about pigs can begin. Wong Soon Ping of Kampung Selamat, Penang showed off a whole roast duck on a baking tray. Half of it was coated in truffle powder. “I’m trying a new recipe!”

It turns out roast ducks are a new product for Soon Ping, a third-generation pig farmer who had sold his pig farm in November 2021 and now processes and distributes pork. His village is one of the two pig farming areas in the state, notorious for decades-long river pollution.

(Photo: Farms that cannot afford to modernise operations call it a day |  Pic by Lee Kwai Han)

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When Laws Put the Brakes on Pig Farm Pollution

Notorious for its river polluting pig farms, Penang is mandating its farms modernise or shut down. But pig farms might not be the only, or main polluters along the whole river. Will this mandate bring relief to the ecosystem and impacted communities? Part 1 of 2.

A STENCH drifts up the 5 metres from the river to the bridge where we are standing. A sour, nasty smell, it lingers even after we leave the site. A local says the smelly river water comes from Kampung Valdor.

Their wastewater has been tarred for impacting everything from paddy fields and fisheries to high-end residential areas. But change is in the air as pig farming legislation and regulations kick in, though it is unclear if they will actually solve river pollution.

(Photo: The polluted waterway from Kampung Selamat (right) flows into Sungai Kereh; note the healthy riverine vegetation, a sign of possible excessive nutrients  |  Pic by SL Wong)

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