PETALING JAYA: Findings from investigations into several cases of water disruption in the Klang Valley in the past year have been referred to the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) for further action.
These cases included burst pipes at the West Coast Expressway (WCE) construction site in May that left 600,000 consumers in the Klang Valley without water, according to National Water Services Commission (SPAN) chairman Charles Santiago.
The probe, conducted by SPAN, also covered the pollution of raw water sources in Sungai Selangor that left an odour and caused the closure of three water treatment plants, affecting a million customer accounts.
Two backbenchers in the Selangor legislative assembly had called on the relevant authorities to decide whether or not action would be taken against those responsible for the pollution and water disruption.
In a joint statement issued yesterday, Subang Jaya assemblyperson Michelle Ng and her Banting counterpart Lau Weng San pledged to exhaust all state legislative processes in the upcoming sitting to press for answers.
They were referring to the most recent incident of water disruption caused by the 13-hour shutdown of the Sungai Semenyih water treatment plant as a result of pollution that left an odour in the water.
On Saturday night, Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd issued a statement confirming that the Sungai Semenyih treatment plant was shut down, affecting 204 areas and 372,031 households in Selangor, before it resumed full operations yesterday morning.
It noted that this was the fourth such pollution incident this year alone to cause main water treatment plants to shut down and unscheduled water disruptions to affect large areas.
Commenting further on the issue, Santiago said it was high time that a national river protection authority be introduced to address river pollution issues.
He noted that presently, there were too many agencies involved in managing the issue, but that none had any real authority.
“For example now in Selangor, we have Selangor Water Management Authority (Luas), Department of Environment, and others. There are too many agencies doing their part, but none are taking ownership of the problem.
“We need one that can do that. The government needs to reconsider ways we manage our rivers. We are floating this idea of the river authority now, and then will propose to the minister in charge,” he said.
