AIR POLLUTION FROM PIG FARMS IN PUNGGOL (Measures to reduce)

Dr Lee Chiaw Meng asked the Minister for the Environment and Minister for Communications what action the Ministry of the Environment will take to reduce air pollution caused by the foul air from pig farms in Punggol.

The Minister for the Environment and Minister for Communications (Mr Ong Pang Boon): Mr Speaker, Sir, pig farming is by nature pollutive and will give rise to malodour. It is not practical to completely eliminate the odour nuisance. However, the nuisance can be minimized through better housekeeping at the farms and improved waste treatment and disposal methods.

During the day, the odour is less noticeable because the malodour is dispersed and diluted with rising warm air. However, during the evening when the temperature of the air is cooler at the ground level, the malodour does not disperse easily and the smell nuisance becomes more noticeable. Farmers have, therefore, been advised not to wash or flush their pig pens towards the late afternoon to minimize the nuisance.

To further reduce odour and pollution caused by pig farms, farmers in designated pig farming areas are also required to install waste treatment plants by 1984 to treat their waste properly. The larger farms in Punggol are taking action to implement this requirement.

One alternative to eliminate the smell problem is to rear pigs in completely enclosed buildings which, in our local weather conditions, would be uneconomic and impractical.

It must be stressed that so long as we want to maintain a flourishing pig industry in Singapore, we would also have to accept some level of smell nuisance from pig farms. It is a price we pay for having pig farms in Singapore.

Mr Ng Kah Ting (Punggol): Mr Speaker, Sir, does not the Hon. Minister for the Environment and Minister for Communications as well as my good friend, the hon. Member for Tanah Merah, agree that this foul air from pig farms does not come from Punggol alone as there are pig farms located elsewhere?

Mr Speaker: That is not a supplementary question at all. Mr Ho See Beng.