River water in Perak among best in the country: LAP

PARIT: The quality of river water in Perak is among the best in the country according to Perak Water Board (LAP) executive director Datuk Mohd Yusof Mohd Isa.
He said this proved the state government's efforts to ensure cleanliness of the rivers was working, among them an initiative where LAP and the Department of Environment (DOE) prevented raw water sources from being polluted.
"Among the government's efforts are the construction of the centralised sewage treatment plant located at Papan, Batu Gajah, which is expected to be completed next year.
"Waste sewage will be processed and cleaned at the treatment plant before being released to the main rivers, and avoid any contamination," he said.
He was speaking to reporters at the launch of the Chemical Company of Malaysia Berhad's (CCM) River Scientist Programme held in conjunction with the state-level National Environment Day 2017 which was officiated by state DOE director, Abdul Razak Abdul Manap.
A total of 80 students from high schools around Perak, as well as Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Seri Iskandar and Politeknik Ungku Omar were involved in the three-day programme which began yesterday.
Participants of the programme would have the chance to conduct water quality testing at Sungai Perak, as well as visit the Kampung Senin water treatment plant to better understand how clean water is supplied to the local community.
Mohd Yusof said 70% of the raw water channelled to the people in Perak came from Sungai Perak — the second largest river in Peninsular Malaysia, after Sungai Pahang.
According to him, 1,300 million litres of water is disbursed to 2.5 million residents in Perak every day, and the number is expected to rise as the population grows.
"Therefore, we need to maintain the cleanliness and quality of the water, otherwise the cost to treat the water will be too high.
"So we need to expose the younger generation to the importance of rivers, to ensure raw water supply in the future is preserved well," he said. — Bernama