A COUPLE of days ago, I wrote about the incidence of water supply disruptions for the past three months. After having supply restored for less than 12 hours, another notice from Air Selangor states polluted water sources will cause another supply disruption to 1.2 million customers. The same reason for disruptions were given in March and September.

Recent reports said the state government identified the culprit – a repeat offender – and a compound of RM60,000 was issued.

At a press conference yesterday, the minister-in-charge said supply to about five million affected consumers is expected to be restored in 24 hours. He said the smell of solvent was similar to the incident in September, and the ministry had identified several industrial areas as the source. And, licence holders will be frequently inspected for compliance.

Mr Minister, if I may, we need to know concrete plans to solve the recurring problem and not just reports on the issues. 

Please visit the root cause.

The current issue is that water pollution was detected since March. Since the ministry had identified the source of the problem, were there follow-ups done? Is it not an unsolved “matter arising” in the minutes of a meeting? Who is responsible for taking action? If action is not taken, was there any action taken on the responsible person? It is obvious there were no regular inspections done. Or, is it about staff shortage?

Other big issues that you may like to visit are:

High rates of non-revenue water (NRW), with the national average being 40% and water wastages in the industrial and agricultural sectors. Unauthorised usage can be detected when volume supplied does not tally with billing amounts;

Destruction and degradation of water catchments. Many development projects may not have proper environmental impact assessment (EIA) studies done;

Review water privatisation projects in all states, especially where transparency is lacking, and ensure all covenants are adhered to;

Structure-wise, there is no central agency to manage water resources, which leads to conflicting or competing objectives and duplicated efforts;

Security of water catchment areas, many of which have yet to be gazetted; and,

Review outdated legislation. A compound of RM60,000 definitely will not cover the costs of providing water tanks to affected areas, treating contaminated water, inconveniences caused and the negative publicity to foreign investors.

Mr Minister, you may want to collaborate with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and follow up on the investigations for the Sg Gong pollution, which may be outstanding. The factory responsible for the pollution has been operating illegally since 2014.

Also get help from the Selangor police, which detained four factory managers and two workers as suspects under Section 430 of the Penal Code.

Hopefully, there will not be any political intervention when all of the above are done.

After all the above are done effectively, I think you will then be remembered as the first minister who successfully solved the perennial water problem and bring back the confidence of not only foreign investors but also of all Malaysians.

What say you… – October 20, 2020.

* Saleh Mohammed reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.