Clean-up of Sungai Bunus

KUALA LUMPUR: With the The River of Life Public Outreach Program (ROL-POP) entering its second phase, efforts to clean and improve water quality are now concentrated on the Sungai Bunus river basin.
The programme, which falls under the "river cleaning" component of the River of Life (ROL) project, is to improve water quality of the river from class 3-5 to 2B.
The first phase of the programme was concentrated on the upstream basin of Sungai Klang.
Kuala Lumpur Mayor Datuk Seri Ahmad Phesal Talib said to ensure the success of ROL- POP phase two, a pilot-project was introduced to encourage the participation of stakeholders and public in preserving the rivers.
He added there will be four stages of the pilot project which carries the slogan "Sungai Untuk Kehidupan Anda (Suka)".
Suka one is to rejuvenate the Bunus River Park, Suka two is organising river carnivals, Suka three is city river awareness programmes and Suka four is Bunus river education centre.
"We need to promote participation from all quarters to ensure our rivers (including Sungai Bunus) are clean so they can become one of the country's heritage," Ahmad Phesal said when officiating the Sungai Bunus Carnival 2014 here today.
He added that to ensure the water quality in Klang Valley rivers reaches 2B level, City Hall has emphasised to all developers that buildings must be built facing the rivers.
Department of Irrigation and Drainage Malaysia director Datuk Hanapi Mohamad Noor said the RoL project also saw the implementation of 498 Gross Pollutant Traps (GPT) to stop rubbish from entering the river.
Water treatment plants are also being set up in several wet markets in Kuala Lumpur.
"The water released from these wet markets is usually tainted, but with the treatment plants, the water is now clean," Hanapi said.
As for now, the water quality of rivers under RoL is at level three.
Hanapi said the project needs another three years for it to improve to level 2B.