Logjam: Water supply in Sibu affected as SWB minimises intake

SIBU, Aug 23 -- Sibu Water Board (SWB) is unable to extract water from the Rejang River due to high siltation that had been caused by a logjam in the upper reaches of Baleh River in Kapit Division yesterday.

In a notice to its customers on Facebook, SWB told that its Salim and Bukit Lima treatment plants were running at minimum capacity, affecting the supply of water to the whole Sibu area.

“We will try to restore the supply to its maximum as soon as possible. Any inconvenience caused is deeply regretted,” it said in the notice.

Yesterday, Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister who is also Baleh assemblyman Tan Sri Dr James Masing blamed the logging activities at the upper reaches of Baleh River for causing the logjam.

Seemed furious over the matter, he urged the licenses for the timber concessionaires not to be renewed in order to stop the logjam from recurring.

Sibu Member of Parliament Oscar Ling Chai Yew also urged the Sarawak government to investigate the cause of the logjam which had previously occurred back in 2010, causing fish to die from suffocation due to high pollutants and low oxygen levels in the water.

“The mistake has repeated again today, we deserve answers from the state government. This is a serious environmental issue, valuable fishes in Rejang River might disappear if this environmental issue is not solved and being allowed to happen more and more often,” he stressed in a statement here.

He demanded the government to release the investigation report soonest and measures that have been taken since the last logjam incident in 2010 and the reasons for its recurring.

Meanwhile, former president of Sibu Rotary Club Dr Gregory Hii Sui Cheng appealed to the timber concessionaires to exercise greater care so that the timber debris are not washed into the river, hence causing riverbank erosion and severe pollution.

“This river pollution has now affected us through the restricted supply of drinking water,” said Hii.

He also appealed to riverbank dwellers as well as urban inhabitants to avoid disposing of their domestic waste into the river to add further to the siltation and pollution problems.

“River needs our tender care and therefore, I appeal to all to love our river and stop doing more damage to it,” he said.

-- BERNAMA