PETALING JAYA: Water polluters should be made to compensate consumers and supply operators for the inconvenience of water cut and loss of income, the Association of Water and Energy Research Malaysia (Awer) said today.
Its president S. Piarapakaran said current punitive measure is not deterrent enough although those who contaminated rivers face could be fined up to RM100,000 or jailed for five years under Section 25 of the Environmental Quality Act 1974.
He said Selangor Water Management Authority (LUAS) must work with the Department of Environment (DOE) to tackle pollution of water sources. “Pollution sources elimination is an important task,“ he said.
Piarapakaran was referring to reports that LUAS investigators found a layer of oil-based waste in the inlet of a treatment plant at Batang Kali on July 20.
The pollution caused the shutdown of the Sungai Selangor Phase 1, 2 and 3 water treatment plants as well as the Rantau Panjang Treatment plant downstream.
“Scheduled maintenance at water treatment plants must be carried in stages with proper notices to consumers,“ he said. “If increasing workforce to carry out maintenance work can reduce time taken for shut down, such option must be included to reduce disruption time.”
Meanwhile, restoration of water supply in the seven regions in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur affected by unscheduled disruptions was at 97% at 3pm today.
Air Selangor Sdn Bhd CEO Suhaimi Kamaralzaman said the percentage of restoration namely Kuala Lumpur (99%) restored, Petaling (95%), Klang / Shah Alam (91%), Gombak (94%) and Kuala Langat (78%), he said.
“We aim to fully restore water supply all affected areas by midnight on Monday (July 22),“ he said in a statement today.
On Saturday, 1,133 areas involving 1,166,842 account holders in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling, Klang, Shah Alam, Kuala Selangor, Hulu Selangor, Gombak and Kuala Langat were affected by unscheduled water disruptions due to odour pollution.
