Call to punish water polluters

Water woes: Residents collecting water from an Air Selangor water truck at a residential area in Serdang. Air Selangor said water supply was being restored in stages from yesterday afternoon. — LOW LAY PHON/The Star

PETALING JAYA: After two water supply interruptions in the Klang Valley within a week, the Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) is calling for stern action against polluters and for a water bill discount to be offered.

Its chief executive officer T. Saravanan said the unscheduled water cuts within days of each other were unacceptable and consumer frustration was palpable all over social media.

“Consumers are becoming the victim of these culprits. We want justice and those who are responsible must be apprehended.

“Raw water protection is very important and all stakeholders must take initiatives to protect it.

“The authorities must carry out an investigation and take stern action to curb these problems,” he said.

Saravanan said some payment waivers from the utility company or the state government should be considered due to the inconvenience faced by consumers.

On Aug 31, a total of 463 areas in the Klang Valley experienced an unscheduled water cut due to odour pollution.

The pollution was detected at the water intake for the Jenderam Hilir raw water pump station, leading to a temporary shutdown of the Semenyih water treatment plant.

Water supply in the affected areas was fully restored by Sept 2.

On Sept 3, the Sungai Semenyih treatment plant had to be shut down following another odour pollution detected in the raw water source.

Concessionaire Air Selangor said water supply is expected to be fully restored to all affected areas in five regions by 6am tomorrow. It said water supply was being restored in stages from yesterday afternoon.

“All affected areas are the same during the disruption on Aug 31,” it said in a statement.

The affected regions are Petaling (172 areas), Hulu Langat (54 areas), Sepang (194 areas), Putrajaya (23 areas) and Kuala Langat (20 areas).

It also said consumers could obtain the water supply restoration list from the Air Selangor app or at hentitugas.airselangor.comFor details, contact Air Selangor’s call centre at 15300 or visit its official Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Under Section 34B of the Environmental Quality Act, it states that no person shall place, deposit or dispose of any scheduled waste on land or into Malaysian waters, except at prescribed premises, without any prior written approval of the director-general of Environment.

Those guilty are liable to a maximum fine of RM500,000 or up to five years’ jail, or both.

In April this year, Environment and Water Minister Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said the ministry was planning to increase the fine up to RM15mil and also impose a mandatory jail term on such offenders.

He said the proposal was among several amendments to the Act, which is currently being reviewed.