LETTER: After having supply restored for less than twelve hours, another notice from Air Selangor yesterday stated that polluted water sources were detected which will cause another supply disruption to 1.2 million customers.
This is the same reason for disruptions in March and September. Recent reports said that the state government identified the culprit – a repeat offender, and a compound of RM60,000 was issued.
At a press conference on Oct 19, the minister-in-charge said supply to about five million affected consumers is expected to be restored in 24 hours. He said the smell of solvent was similar to the incident in September, and the ministry had identified several industrial areas as the source.
And licence holders would be frequently inspected for compliance. We need to know concrete plans to solve the recurring problem, and not just reporting the issues. Please visit the root cause.
The current issue is that water pollution was detected since March. Since the ministry had identified the source of the problem, were there follow-ups done? Is it not an unsolved 'matter arising' in the minutes of meetings, and who is responsible to take action?
Was any action taken against the responsible parties? Was it obvious that there were no regular inspections done, or is it about staff shortage?
Other big issues that you may like to visit include:
1. High rates of Non-revenue Water (NRW), with the national average being 40 per cent and water wastages in the industrial and agricultural sectors. Unauthorised usage can be detected when volume supplied do not tally with billing amounts;
2. Destruction and degradation of water catchments – many development projects may not have proper Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) studies done;
3. Review water privatisation projects in all states, where transparency is lacking, and ensure all the covenants were adhered to;
4. Structure-wise, there is no central agency to manage water resources that leads to conflicting or competing objectives and duplicated efforts;
5. Security of water catchment areas, and it seems that many have yet to be gazetted; and
6. Review outdated legislations – a compound of RM60,000 definitely will not cover the costs of providing water tanks to affected areas, treating the contaminated water, inconveniences caused and the negative publicity to foreign investors.
I urge the minister to collaborate with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and follow-up on the investigations done for the Sungai Gong pollution, which may be outstanding. The factory responsible for the pollution had been operating illegally since 2014.
Also, get help from the Selangor police, who detained four factory managers and two workers as suspects under Section 430 of the Penal Code. Hopefully, there will not be any political intervention when all of the above is done.
After all the above is implemented, I think you will be remembered as the first minister who successfully solved the perennial water problem, and bring back the confidence of all Malaysians and foreign investors.
SALEH MOHAMMED
Kuala Lumpur
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times.