Penang to crack down on pig farms polluting rivers

 

Sungai Kreh near Tasek Gelugor in July this year. It remains in the current state today. (LEKAS pic)

GEORGE TOWN: Penang authorities are to crack down on pig farms in Tasek Gelugor which leaked animal waste into drains, the state assembly was told today.

State executive councillor Phee Boon Poh (DAP-Sungai Puyu) said the Seberang Perai City Council had been given powers by the Environment Department to take action on any river polluters on their behalf.

He said a high-level meeting would be held this week by the city council (MBSP) on a large-scale enforcement action against those who continued to pump out pig faeces into drains which later end up in the nearby rivers.

Sungai Kreh, the river in question, is currently graded Class V by the authorities, meaning it is a biologically dead: the water is so polluted, it is not suitable for use even for irrigation. The river in Tasek Gelugor runs close to the pig farms with over 130,000 hogs upstream.

Phee said the pig farms in Kampung Selamat, Tasek Gelugor, have been in existence since 1945, after the colonial government had ordered all pig farms in Province Wellesley North to move before the onset of a communist insurgence.

He said while there were no laws concerning piggeries when they first started, a new state law was enacted a few years ago, where the pig farms are to convert to a closed-door “modern pig farming” system.

Phee said while the laws took effect March this year, the enforcement of the closed-door system has been delayed to Jan 1, 2022, taking into account the pandemic. In the meantime, all pig farms are required to get licensed by the state veterinary services department.

He said under the state law, pig farms must have a 200m buffer all around, ensure zero waste discharge and practise good husbandry.

Phee said in the meantime, a 1megawatt biomass power plant is being built by a company in Valdor and the possibility of converting the waste from all animal farms into power was an opportunity to address the problem.

“We have sternly warned piggeries—if there is no close house, we will close your house,” he said in response to an oral question by Nor Hafizah Othman (BN-Permatang Berangan).

Hafizah had asked about the pollution of Sungai Kreh and the odour pollution caused by the dumping of pig waste into the drains and rivers in her constituency and Pinang Tunggal.

Under the Penang Pig Farming Enactment 2016, flouters face a three years’ jail or RM30,000 in fines. The state has exempted pig farmers from getting permission to turn their piggeries into a closed system to encourage more adoption of such a system.

There are about 350,000 pigs reared in 156 pig farms in the state as of last year. According to the Penang Agriculture Department data, chicken is the largest export out of the state as of Feb this year, with 15.1 million live birds in farms. - FMT