Celebration of World Rivers Day 2018
Mini River Carnival – a
signature event by Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) Malaysia and the
Global Environment Centre (GEC) has attracted more than 200 city folks to
partake in river educational activities. The event is organised as part of a
wider efforts to raise public awareness on the Klang River under the River of
Life Project and also to celebrate World Rivers Day 2018.
The World Rivers Day is celebrated every year on the fourth Sunday of
September. Begun in 1989 in British Columbia, Canada; World Rivers Day is a day
to raise public awareness and promote the preservation and conservation of
rivers around the world.
Among the carnival attractions are River Quest. This explore-race type
activity required participants to explore confluence of Klang and Gombak River by
completing the tasks and answer the questions correctly to proceed to the next
checkpoint.
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| Getting the name right. One of the quests is to name the rivers within the Klang River Basin correctly. |
Meanwhile, Young River Scientist Programme becomes the choice of
many parents to expose their children about the importance of rivers through fun-learning
outdoor classroom. Children aged 5 to 12 years were engaged with interesting
mini experiments to measure good and bad river water and had fun in playing
environmental themed games such as fishing for litter and jigsaw puzzle.
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| Fun learning science experiments to measure the quality of river water. |
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| Kids get to play fishing game - Fishing for little and sort them accordingly to the recycle item |
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| Puzzle game |
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| Entertaining clown session creates laughter to all the crowds |
The carnival is also a zero waste event to enlighten the public and participants to reduce waste and adopt zero waste lifestyle. Participants were seen to bring their own bags, food and drinks container and cutleries to collect food and drinks.
DID river basin
management division senior principal assistant director Wan Marhafidz Shah Wan
Mohd Omar said “Majority of Malaysians do not know that 97% of our drinking
water sources are from rivers. Our drinking water supply will be affected if
our rivers are badly polluted. Under the River of Life project, the implementation of clearing and upgrading of Klang river water quality
has reached over 80% but the culture of using rivers and drainage as a dumpsite
can affect this initiative. Thus, implementing Public Outreach Programme such
as the Mini River Carnival is hoped to raise public awareness on the importance
of the river and change the public perception that river is not a dumpsite but
an asset to the country.”
“The government, through DID, is currently spending RM500, 000 per month
just to collect rubbish at the rubbish traps that we have in our rivers and
certain drains within the River of Life project area. If everyone is aware and
does not throw rubbish into rivers, such provisions can be allocated to other
prioritise matters,” he added.
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| Launching of Friends of Klang River Basin |
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| Yeah my little boy is so lucky! Lucky draw for children |
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| Group photo with the winners of River Quest and children lucky draw |
The carnival also saw the launching of Friends of Klang River Basin – a
group of community network located within the Klang River basin that are
committed towards conservation of Klang River and its river banks and actively
involved in river monitoring and adoption of Klang River and its tributaries.
Organisation of the carnival is also supported by DID
Kuala Lumpur and Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur. It is estimated that millions of people around 60-80
countries including Malaysia are joining this year World Rivers Day
celebration.
About River of
Life Public Outreach Programme
River of Life Public Outreach
Programme (RoLPOP) is an initiative by Department of Irrigation and Drainage
Malaysia. The programme is a subset of River of Life (RoL) initiative under the
purview of the Ministry of Federal Territory that aims to foster partnerships
and to improve attitudes and behaviours of target groups to reduce pollution.
The programme promotes a sense of ownership towards the river and initiates long
term and sustainable change in behaviours towards protecting the river. Global
Environment Centre is a non-profit environmental organisation that has been
advocating river protection and rehabilitation for the past 20 years was
appointed by DID Malaysia in 2016 to implement Phase 5 of RoLPOP.
RoL aims to transform the Klang
River into a vibrant and liveable waterfront with high economic value. For more
information on the River of Life, please www.water.gov.my
