Kuching to get centralised sewerage system
-The Star- By SHARON LING
KUCHING: Sarawak is introducing a centralised sewerage system in Kuching to reduce pollution of the city’s waterways from untreated wastewater.
State Urban Development and Tourism Minister Datuk Michael Manyin said Package 1 of the system was currently under construction and would be completed by Oct 2012.
He said the system would address the deteriorating water quality of the city’s rivers and streams due to the discharge of untreated or partially treated wastewater.
Currently, blackwater from toilets is only partially treated in conventional septic tanks while greywater from bathrooms, kitchens and washing areas was discharged without treatment.
Under the new system, wastewater will be collected and transported to a treatment plant where it will be treated to the Department of Environment’s Standard A for effluent discharge.
Standard A is deemed clean and safe for water-based activities.
“As such, the implementation of the project will manage water pollution and improve the quality of Sungai Sarawak and other rivers to ensure a sustainable environment for city folk,” Manyin said at the project launch at the Civic Centre here Tuesday.
He added that the RM530mil Package 1 was funded by the Federal government under the Ninth Malaysia Plan with Kumpulan-Nishimatsu-Hock Seng Lee Consortium as the turnkey contractor.
Package 1 covers the commercial and densely-populated areas of the central business district and comprises a centralised wastewater treatment plant, a sewer network and property connections to the new sewer lines.
He also said the state government planned to extend the project under the 10th Malaysia Plan, with a proposed Package 2 covering the areas east and west of the city centre and Package 3 covering the northern bank of Sungai Sarawak.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, who launched the project, said it was part of the government’s efforts to continue improving liveability standards in the city.
“Kuching’s population is now nearing 600,000 people and it will become more densely populated in the future.
“One of our biggest challenges is to provide good clean water and to do this we need to introduce the centralised sewerage scheme,” he said.
In everyday news, Government is banking on sustainable technologies. However, has one consider how does a sewage treatment plant (STP) be a sustainable technology?
To operate a stand alone centralized sewage treatment plant (CSTP) with this size will definitely require a surging high amount of electricity to operate which will cost easily over tens of millions of ringgit a year. Will the State Government able to sustain the yearly operating costs just on the electricity bill? Will the Federal Government allocate high or have the fund for a high budget to the State Government?
When the State Government fails to keep it running, environmental problems again start to rise and the entire system again turns into another white elephant. Again, developers or contractors to take blame.
It’s been a common scenario in Peninsular as STPs has evolved more than two decades. Even with the concessionaire charging a monthly fare yet it is unable to manage all the STPs in terms of operation and maintenance. Hence, there has been many reports of the real culprit behind the river pollution.
CK
November 11, 2009