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GEORGE TOWN: The CEO of the Penang Water Company today called for all rivers to be free of structures for at least 30m on both sides to avoid contamination similar to the Selangor case last week.
Jaseni Maidinsa of Penang Water Supply Corporation (PBA) said the heart of the problem with polluters was that local authorities did not strictly enforce a 15m barrier for all of Malaysia’s rivers.
Roughly 1.2 million households in the Klang Valley were affected by water outages that lasted for four days after four water treatment plants were closed due to contamination from Sungai Gong.
Jaseni said that more laws and tougher penalties would not fully solve the problem when local governments continue to allow the construction of buildings on riverbanks, despite knowing that there is a buffer requirement.
Another issue, he said, lies in the lack of “respect” for rivers.
“Malaysians, in general, have no respect for rivers. In some countries, houses are built on the riverfront, fetching high property prices. Here we have baths facing the river. There is absolutely no respect.
“In the case of Selangor, the Selayang council is said to have issued notices to a factory since 2014, so why was no action taken since then?
“So the issue is not about more laws or sanctions, but about lack of enforcement. Illegal factories invading the river’s reserves should be demolished, ”he said on the sidelines of the annual general meeting of PBA Holdings Bhd (PBAHB).
Jaseni said that in Penang, PBAHB guarded its key river, with a team of 10 auxiliary police officers patrolling the 14 km canal from Sungai Muda to Butterworth 24 hours a day. This has been going on since 2008.
“The government should treat rivers as national strategic assets so that they can be better cared for,” he said.
Water pipeline from Perak to Penang
Separately, Jaseni raised the alarm about Penang and Kedah’s water supply demands, which could be sustained until 2025.
However, due to climate change and erratic rains, the water level in Sungai Muda, the main river supplying water to both states, is expected to drop in the next five years.
The only solution is to take advantage of the abundant raw water in Perak, which is more than enough to serve the population of the state.
A proposal to build a 14.8km aqueduct from a river in Perak south of Seberang Perai, approved by Putrajaya in 2012, never got off the ground, Jaseni said, adding that it would take seven years to build.
3 contingency measures for uninterrupted water supply
Jaseni said that it has been proposed to the Penang government that three contingency measures be taken to ensure an uninterrupted water supply after 2025.
The first is to build a new water treatment plant alongside the current one at Sungai Dua, Butterworth, which would produce 114 million liters per day.
The second is tap water from Sungai Perai, one of the main rivers on the continent. Although previous studies have shown that river water is not safe to treat, it may be possible given the newer technology in water treatment.
The third measure is to take advantage of seawater, through a desalination plant in the south of the island of Penang, and the plant is expected to start operating in December 2024.
