The large amount of garbage that finds its way into two main rivers in the Klang Valley is at a “chronic” stage.
SMART (Stormwater Management and Road Tunnel) said the amount of garbage collected daily keeps increasing.
SMART control centre director Ir Norhisham Mohd Ghazali said that up to five tonnes of garbage was filtered daily from the Klang and Ampang Rivers by its automatic trash rake system.
“We are improving our maintenance level as the heavy rains lately have led to a chronic garbage issue. Too much garbage has caused small-scale damage to our piping and electricity system,” he said when met at the SMART control centre here yesterday.
Norhisham added that the department had spent approximately RM144,000 of its RM4mil annual maintenance budget just for the garbage filtration system.
The control centre monitors SMART, the floodwater diversion channel touted as the ultimate solution to the city’s flood problems.
Excessive rainwater from catchment areas in the two rivers liable to cause flash floods are channelled to holding ponds in Kampung Berembang and Taman Desa.
“Since it began operations in 2007, the tunnel has helped reduce an estimated RM100mil from the city’s total annual flood losses.
“Garbage that is stuck to the tunnel’s main parts could affect the tunnel’s functionality should a flood arise,’’ said Norhisham.
He added that the Drainage and Irrigation Department would approach residents in the upper river regions to raise awareness on the effects of dumping garbage into rivers.
DID is also running an awareness programme called Sungaiku, Hidupkuat the district and state level.
