Water flows from Riam Kanan dam to wet burning land around Syamsudin Noor Airport

Banjarbaru, S Kalimantan (ANTARA) - Various things have been done to handle land fire around the Syamsudin Noor Banjarmasin Airport in Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan, and the new one is by flowing water from Riam Kanan dam to damp the burning area.

"Right now we are still making channels to close to the airport," Head of the South Kalimantan Forestry Agency Hanif Faisol Nurofiq said in Banjarbaru, Wednesday.

He told that the distance from the watergate of Tegal Arum irrigation to the airport is about 1.5 kilometers, while watergate to the dam in Aranio Sub-disrtict to span 1.75 kilometers.

"I am optimistic the construction of the canal will finish soon and we will do the wetting of Guntung Damar or Tegal Arum area  to put out the burning land," Hanif spoke to Antara when he was at the location of the canal construction.

By flowing water from Riam Kanan reservoir directly to the burning peatland, he believed, hotspots will be permanently extinguished, while cost is not as expensive when compare with other methode.

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Peatland, as is known, when it burn then the hotspot spread below to the soil to trigger other hotspots. Sprinkling the surface, Hanif pointed out, will not put out the fire permanently, then the wetting is carried out from underground.

Previously, peatland injection was implemented to put out the fire, but it was considered ineffective to cover large enough burnt land.

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Meanwhile, Head Execuive of South Kalimantan Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) Wahyuddin noted, the extent of the burning land was estimated to cover 4,200 hectares. "Mostly in Tanah Laut District and area around the airport. Last year, in Guntung Damar alone, was 400 hectares," he told.foto: Waduk Riam Kanan//