{"id":16294,"date":"2020-09-28T15:53:53","date_gmt":"2020-09-28T07:53:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/?p=16294"},"modified":"2020-09-28T15:53:54","modified_gmt":"2020-09-28T07:53:54","slug":"clean-river-initiatives-are-not-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/clean-river-initiatives-are-not-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"Clean river initiatives are not enough."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Set-Up the National River Protection Authority as part of National Security Now!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We haven\u2019t forgotten the hardship or emotional anguish brought about by the recent water cuts due to pollution of our rivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so, while I welcome the Federal and Selangor government\u2019s initiative to increase fines and involve the public in cleaning up polluted rivers on World Rivers Day, this isn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need to think beyond the \u201cFriends of River\u201d campaign because our rivers continue to be polluted despite \u201cclean river\u201d initiatives over one and a half decades now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Today, the river is treated as a rubbish dump-site by industries and local communities. The variety of river pollution include: plastic waste, surgical face masks, e-waste, chemical, heavy metals and industrial waste, pharmaceutical waste, sewerage, effluents from life stock farms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

River pollution is threatening our very existence. Rivers provide our drinking water and water for agriculture and industries. It provides habitat for a variety of animal and plant species, including fish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2016, two hundred tonnes of rubbish or municipal solid waste was dumped into rivers, drains, and waterways in the country on a monthly basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2017, Malaysian Environmental Quality Report suggests that the percentage of polluted rivers has increased and none of the monitored rivers have been categorised as clean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The growing instances of river pollution have impacted on water supply in states such as Selangor, Johor and Penang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Water treatment plants have been forced to shut down due to river pollution resulting in huge losses in economic activity and social inconvenience to say the least.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rivers are under threat and need urgent protection. An increase in fines are necessary but not sufficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s time the government considers setting-up a National River Protection Authority (NRPA), as a single authority in managing and coordinating river protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agency could, as a first step, bring together the numerous federal agencies involved in river management under one roof as opposed to working in silo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the NRPA could provide a platform for improved coordination between federal and state agencies for river management as they remain fragmented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the heart of the NRPA, is the creation of a buffer between both sides of the river and together with the river are classified as security zones monitored by enforcement agencies on a twenty-four seven basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aim of creating such a security space is to ensure that there is absolutely no encroachment into the river. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
“And the continued callous approach to river pollution management in the country puts us in serious trouble” – Charles Santiago<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The proposed agency could also work with the private sector to establish policies such as the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme that holds manufacturers accountable for the end-of-life impacts of their plastic products and packaging. This will indirectly encourage the adoption of holistic eco-designs among the business sector and reduce plastic pollution in rivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Malaysians take part in the federal and state government\u2019s clean river initiative, they need to be made aware that our rivers have rapidly deteriorated over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s time to look at the pollution of our rivers as a national security issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what better day to start other than on the World Rivers Day?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charles Santiago
Member of Parliament<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Set-Up the National River Protection Authority as part of National Security Now! We haven\u2019t forgotten the hardship or emotional …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":16295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[260,274,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current","category-national","category-your-community"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16294"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16297,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16294\/revisions\/16297"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}