THE Selangor government will start using four drones from next month to monitor rivers in the state against pollution.

Selangor exco in charge of tourism, environment and green technology, and Orang Asal affairs Hee Loy Sian said the drone programme will cost RM2 million.

The state also plans to amend its laws to increase the penalty for water polluters from RM100,000 to up to RM1 million, and add to the jail term.

The state is also offering RM20,000 to whistle-blowers for information on polluters, Hee added.

“It is difficult to detect odour pollution, which is why we approved RM2 million to get high-technology drones to monitor the situation,” he told a press conference at Sg Gong.

He added the drones will start operating next month and will mainly monitor Sg Selangor and Sg Langat, as these two are hotspots for pollution.

The drones will operate 24 hours a day and be monitored by Lembaga Urus Air Selangor (LUAS).

“The drones can also go through smaller areas, which is hard for our manpower to do,” he said.

On the reward for whistle-blowers, Hee said it will only be given once the offender has been charged in court.

“As for now, we have discussed that the reward given out will be about RM20,000 to the whistle-blower.

“The identity of the whistle-blower will not be made public as we want to encourage more people to come forward when they notice pollution taking place in their area,” he said.

He added the state will table an enactment next month to increase the penalty for water polluters.

“The fine will be increased to between RM200,000 to RM1 million, and the jail term to up to three years.

 “We are still investigating the current source of pollution and will not rule out acts of sabotage,” said Hee.

More than a million households and businesses in the Klang Valley woke up to dry taps this morning – the second incident in under two weeks – after pollution was detected in Sg Selangor.

Operations at the Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3 and Rantau Panjang treatment plants were stopped to clear the pollution.

The suspension of the four plants caused unscheduled disruption involving 1.196 million accounts covering 1,292 areas in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling, Klang, Shah Alam, Kuala Selangor, Hulu Selangor, Gombak and Kuala Langat. – October 19, 2020.