Answers needed on Johor water

TAPS ran dry for more than 1.2 million people in four major districts in Johor after a bund silt pond collapse affected Sungai Johor on Oct 30.

The incident spewed tonnes of sludge into the river, shutting down the operations of four major water treatment plants channelling water to consumers.

It took almost five days before water was fully restored to residents in Johor Baru, Kota Tinggi, Kulai and Pontian.

Sadly, this was the second major water disruption this year.

On May 20, supply to about 300,000 people was disrupted after six pumps flooded at a water treatment plant in Kota Tinggi.

The incident affected households and businesses in Johor Baru and Iskandar Puteri, some of which endured almost four days without water.

My household too was affected by the distruptions, as we were forced to buy bottled water for our daily needs and wait for water tankers.

It was a huge inconvenience, and I can just imagine the difficulties faced by those with larger families or seniors.

In both cases, Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi announced a water rebate of 15% to all affected consumers, to cushion the impact.

He also apologised to the public affected badly by the water cuts.

The collapse of the bund silt pond was said to be due to man-made factors, namely sand mining activities.

Police reports were lodged by various quarters and the news was extensively covered, including in the Singapore press, with drone shots of the mining activities.

Even Johor police chief Comm Datuk Ab Rahaman Arsad visited Kampung Orang Asli Sayong Pinang in Kota Tinggi, one of three villages affected by the incident.

Earlier, a stop-work order was issued to halt all sand mining operations, while the damaged bund has been repaired and raised.

Fish fry was also released into the river.

I believe that soon after the incident, state and federal agencies carried out investigations into the incident.

However, it has been almost two months now. What has happened to the investigations? Will anyone be brought to court over this?

Why has everything about this case suddenly gone silent?

Also, what short- and long-term measures have been put in place to avoid a repeat of the pollution of Sungai Johor?

Based on my research, since 2015 there have been five major pollution cases involving Sungai Johor, including illegal oil dumping, contamination by palm oil effluents and poultry farms, and ammonia leak.

In all cases, tens of thousands of people were affected, not to mention the huge ecological damage to marine life, including tonnes of dead fish.

There were some offenders who have been brought to court and faced heavy fines.

Meanwhile, some of the local fishermen I talked to at the badly affected Orang Asli village in Kota Tinggi said the pollution came at the worst time as it was fish breeding season.

They said it could take up to two years before marine life returned to normal.

Their livelihood was badly affected as the pollution led them to be jobless for more than two weeks.

They were also only offered a basket of food and cash as compensation.

The time has come for the state government to heed the advice of experts and non-governmental organisations, and take bold steps to gazette Sungai Johor as a protected water source in view of its importance to both Malaysia and Singapore.

Sungai Johor basin, which covers about 2,636sq km, flows through four major districts and has been deemed under stress.

Research shows that a “highly stressed” river may not be able to supply adequate water in the future.

At least 10 water treatment plants, including those belonging to Singapore’s Public Utilities Board (PUB), draw huge amounts of water along the 122.7km-long river.

The river does not just supply water to over two million consumers in Johor Baru, Kota Tinggi, Kulai and Pontian; it also provides 946 million litres to Singapore daily.

Johor Green Earth Society president P. Sivakumar was spot on when he highlighted the importance of Sungai Johor being gazetted as soon as possible, stating that the river was slowly dying.

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Centre for Environmental Sustainability and Water Security researcher Dr Zulfaqar Sa’adi also supported a gazettement, especially upstream, saying this would help its role as a water catchment area.

Gazetting Sungai Johor can better protect it, as the government could look into the possibility of imposing a total ban on, or better regulate, sand mining activities.

If needed, all plantations, mining companies and factories along the river should be required to provide detailed environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports.

This would ensure all “loopholes” are closed.

Presently, only developments of 20ha and more are required to have a mandatory full EIA report, while projects below this threshold may be exempt from the full EIA requirement.

For me, all polluters must be brought to book.

We need to send a strong message that Johor cares for its people and is serious about protecting the environment and tackling pollution.