STERN punishment should be meted on those responsible for the river contamination that led to the closure of four water treatment plants and a massive supply disruption in the Klang Valley, said Khairy Jamaluddin.

The science, technology and innovation minister said Putrajaya should discuss implementing heftier punishment so such incidents do not recur.

“The punishment for those who pollute is not enough. I think the ministries involved should discuss increasing the penalty for those who pollute water sources as this affects millions of Malaysians.

“Imagine how much damage one factory can cause,” Khairy told a press conference today.

The Rembau MP added his ministry has been given water samples to determine what pollutants were involved in the most recent water pollution incident, and would hand over the results to the Environment and Water Ministry in a few days.

Khairy also said his ministry will look into technologies able to give early warnings before any water incident escalates and causes damage and hardship to Malaysians.

“There is some technology already but I think it’s not good enough. These things must be detected much earlier.

“I hope we can see the role technology plays to proactively monitor pollution in our water resources,” he said.

Selangor Menteri Besar Amiruddin Shaari had earlier today announced that the authorities have shut and fined the factory responsible for the contamination that led to the closure of the water treatment plants.

The four plants forced to close are Sg Selangor Phases 1, 2 and 3, and Rantau Panjang. They cannot operate until the pollution is down to “zero TON level”, Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd said earlier today.

Amirudin said 78 tankers, 22 jumbo tankers, 54 static tanks, 18 rural service centres and eight public pipes have been activated, and 23,000 5l bottles of drinking water distributed in the affected areas.

A total of 1,292 areas in the Klang Valley, namely in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling, Klang, Shah Alam, Kuala Selangor, Hulu Selangor, Gombak and Kuala Langat, are suffering dry taps.

Pengurusan Air Selangor said almost 1.2 million Klang Valley consumers will be without water supply for at least four days following the river contamination caused by a Rawang-based factory.

State exco Hee Loy Sian has identified the factory in question as belonging to Yip Chee Seng & Sons Sdn Bhd, which services and maintains heavy machinery.

In a SelangorTV report, he had said the facility did not dispose of black oil discharge properly, allowing it to flow into a drain that leads to the river.

The factory is a repeat offender, having been fined for the same offence previously, he had said. – September 4, 2020.