River clean-up remedies

Hidden danger: Sullage, coloured green by algae which proliferate due to the presence of sewage, flowing directly into Sungai Klang from the Keramat neighbourhood in Hulu Klang, Kuala Lumpur. This source of pollution is often overlooked in river-cleaning efforts. ¿ Filepics

A river will be clean only if nothing fouls it up in the first place.

VARIOUS initiatives, from installing trash traps along rivers to building river water treatment plants, have been carried out to spruce up Sungai Klang under the River of Life project but two major sources of pollution – sullage and stormwater runoffs – are not getting much-needed attention.