KUALA LUMPUR: The government has not discounted the possibility of sabotage behind the recurring cases of water disruptions in Selangor.
“Elements of sabotage are for police to investigate but at the back of my mind, I cannot say that it may not be sabotage,” Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Dr Xavier Jayakumar said today.
“It is something that we have to look into ... I have experience of more than 10 years of these water disruptions in Selangor and we always had and have the notion that it might be (sabotage),” he told reporters when asked about the possibility of sabotage.
Xavier had earlier launched the Malaysia International Water Convention the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre.
Xavier, however, said that it is quite a task to monitor water sources due to various reasons.
“As far as we know, it is very difficult to monitor water resource intake areas as they are so wide, large and so rural sometimes ... you can’t have your eyes, ears in all these places all the time,” he said.
But he warned that measures are in place to monitor and detect irresponsible parties from committing such acts.
He also said that industry players and the corporate sector must change their methods of disposing waste water.
“We have come to a stage where we can’t tolerate this discharging of raw waste water into main streams.
“If you are caught, you are going to pay a heavy price,” Xavier said, adding that he has instructed Indah Water and the National Water Services Commission (SPAN) to be more stern in their investigations and also the enforcement on the ground.
Xavier said the government will be reviewing by-laws and legislation to better protect water resources to ensure stricter enforcement when it comes to taking action against unscrupulous parties that contaminate water resources.
He said that among the laws that would be looked at are the Water Services Industry Act 2006 (Wasia).
In June, it was reported that odour pollution was detected in the raw water source in Sungai Semenyih.
On July 19, another odour pollution was detected in the raw water source in Sungai Selangor.
A few days later, diesel contamination was detected in a water source in Sungai Selangor, resulting in four water treatment plants having to shut down.
On Sept 28, the Semenyih River Water Treatment Plant was forced to cease operations, following a five-ton odor pollution incident at the Semenyih River water source.
The cut affected 372,031 households in the Petaling district, Hulu Langat, Kuala Langat and Sepang in Selangor.
Although the facility resumed operations 13 hours later, Air Selangor said it was the fourth incident this year involving a main plant, leading to large-scale unscheduled water cuts.
