SAFE drinking water is a human right. The United Nations General Assembly through Resolution 64/292 has declared as such on July 28, 2010. The resolution states: “The human right to water entitles everyone to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for personal and domestic uses”.

Governments are obliged to ensure the people continuously enjoy potable water. That obligation includes the source of drinking water is free from harmful contaminants, while raw water must be treated to a level safe for drinking and preferably to the guidelines set by the World Health Organisation.

Ensuring that the water catchment area is protected is a primary requirement for governments to fulfil that obligation. Industrial activities that have potential to cause hazardous chemical discharge to the water source should not be allowed, or at least ensure a high level of vigilance and enforcement checks.

In our country and in particular the Klang Valley, lessons of hazardous chemical contamination are aplenty, but never learnt. The latest incident of raw water contamination at Sungai Gong that resulted in the shutting down of water treatment plants in Sungai Selangor Phases 1,2,3 and at Rantau Panjang has affected 1.2 million users in the Klang Valley.

Hundreds of thousands of households and businesses have to endure dry taps as a result. For that fiasco, heads must roll and that includes politicians and departmental heads directly responsible for ensuring safe drinking water.
 
The culprit, a heavy machinery maintenance workshop, was quickly identified as being responsible for unscrupulously discharging effluents containing diesel, black oil and chemical solvents into the waterways.

Politicians and officials from Selangor were quick to inform that the culprit had a previous RM60,000 compound fine for a similar offence, hoping that putting the blame on the workshop owners would appease people who have had enough of unscheduled cuts that occurred once too often.

Given the nature of the massive man-made environmental disaster that occurred, even the harshest of punishment towards the polluter cannot undo the ruin. Therefore, it is incumbent upon those in office, politicians and civil servants alike, to ensure strict conformity to laws and regulations to prevent any recurrence.

Factories, plants, workshops, and agricultural activities that have potential to pollute the water system must be on the watch list of local governments with regular inspections by enforcers. Local governments must also regularly check their dumpsites for leach to flowing surface water or groundwater.

Pollutants of dissolved heavy metals and chemicals, which are mostly odourless and colourless, in drinking water health concerns after several years of exposure.

It is, therefore, vital to note that the standard water treatment in plants that encompasses settlement of suspended solids, flocculation, aeration, filtration, and anti-microbial treatment with chlorine is unable to remove these pollutants. Once absorbed, most of these heavy metals and chemicals are cumulative in our body.

Similarly, nitrate, usually from chemical fertilisers and agricultural runoffs, present in raw water cannot be removed through the water treatment plant process. Excessive exposure of nitrate can affect oxygen level in the blood, a disease called methemoglobinemia or blue baby syndrome. Nitrate in water supplies has also been linked to certain types of cancer, in particular colon cancer.

Another common problem with raw water contaminants is the presence of faecal matter and carcasses. Their excessive amounts present will necessitate much use of chlorine for anti-microbial treatment, which, in turn, gives rise to disinfection by-products called trihalomethanes (THMs) that are carcinogenic.

In the Sg Gong incident, the authorities seem concerned about the threshold odour number (TON), which is expected to be at zero level before declaring safe for consumption. The TON parameter for evaluating water quality is only one of the several aspects. The more important and much more serious parameters on health hazards are those mentioned above.

Public officials entrusted to oversee drinking water quality must be fully aware of the socio-economic impact of the burden of disease caused by a man-made environmental disaster.

The burden of disease is measured through disability-adjusted life years (DALY) metric. DALY is the sum of years of life lost by premature mortality and years of healthy life lost in states of disability.

These are some information gathered from sparse scientific reports. Total global deaths in 2004 due to chemical exposure were 4.9 million. There were 86 million DALYs lost attributable to environmental exposure, including chemical pollutants in drinking water.

In terms of chemical-related burden of disease cost estimate, Grandjean & Bellanger (2017) in Environmental Health, had estimated the total annual cost of diseases was about US$4 trillion (RM16.5 trillion), or 260 million DALYs.

Our politicians and public servants must take heed of the socio-economic impact of the burden of disease from chemical pollution. It is of little use to take action only after a disaster has occurred.

They need to be proactive to help our nation and society progress, not cultivate and perpetuate a third world mentality. – September 10, 2020.
 

* Captain Dr Wong Ang Peng is a researcher with an interest in economics, politics, and health issues. He has a burning desire to do anything within his means to promote national harmony. Captain Wong is also a member of the National Patriots Association.