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PETALING JAYA: The Department of the Environment (DoE) has a bigger role to play in tackling the problem of frequent water interruptions in the Klang Valley.
Stakeholders believe that it should take more proactive measures to stop the discharge of pollutants into rivers.
They also emphasize that the department must reinforce the application of waste management rules to avoid further deterioration of the country’s water resources.
The Malaysian Water Forum is of the opinion that the latest pollutant dumping incident in Sungai Selangor shows that authorities have yet to learn from previous similar events.
Its president, Saral James Maniam, noted that all the Selangor government did was instruct the owners of illegal factories to legalize their operations.
“This is where the Department of Energy must step in and ensure that these illegal activities stop immediately,” he told the Sun.
On Sunday, the water supply to more than 1.2 million households in the Klang Valley had to be cut off following the discovery of contaminants in Sungai Selangor. The affected areas included Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam, Gombak, and Kuala Selangor.
Last month, the water supply to millions of consumers was similarly interrupted due to the discharge of effluent in Sungai Gong.
Saral noted that, as a result of the previous cases of contamination, the Selangor Water Management board had to propose measures to monitor the rivers for the early detection of effluents.
He noted that drones were only useful for detecting colored discharges, but other types of sensors are needed to discover colorless effluents.
Saral also expressed hope that factory owners receive education on ways to keep rivers clean.
“Some of these factories continue to dump waste into the river because the owners are not aware of the implications or do not know where else to dispose of the waste,” he said.
“If they were legal, they would have their own water treatment plant or third parties to do it for them.”
“Establishing a factory legally would have involved going through state and environmental agencies to obtain their approvals,” he said.
Saral said that in addition to educating factory operators about the damage that discharge of pollutants into rivers can cause, severe measures must also be taken and fines must be based on their profits.
Klang MP Charles Santiago said the role of the Energy Department is to ensure that companies adhere to the waste management schedule.
Santiago, who is also president of the ASEAN Human Rights Parliamentarians, said this would ensure that the authorities know “where the waste goes and who throws it away.”
But he also recognized that the DoE would have to reinforce its ranks to carry out these tasks.
“I would like to see an initiative to have a river protection authority. We should have a buffer zone on both sides of the river where commercial or other activities are not allowed and this must be monitored under national security rules, “he said.
On the problem of water disruption, he said the government should make factories along the river banks relocate quickly.
“We are losing billions and people are being pushed to the limit. The state government should also form an independent high-level committee to investigate this, ”he added.
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