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SPAN floats protection idea

PETALING JAYA: The National Water Services Commission (SPAN) has proposed a National River Protection Authority to oversee all the rivers in the country.

SPAN chairman Charles Santiago said there were too many agencies involved in rivers but none of them had any real authority.

“How do we come out of this problem of enforcement, of too many agencies involved. The question is who will take ownership to solve the problems, ” he said yesterday during a seminar on river pollution.

In the wake of several incidents of river pollution, Santiago said there was a need to look at how the entire system could come together as a unified body under the Prime Minister’s Department to give it power and funds to solve the issues at hand.

“That is why the idea of a water protection agency is being floated, ” he said.

In the past few months, pollution in Johor’s Sungai Kim Kim affected more than 6, 000 people in the area, while diesel spillage into Sungai Selangor caused water supply disruptions to almost five million Klang Valley residents.

Santiago said the country must avoid the severe or chronic water problems faced by Cape Town, South Africa and Chennai, India.

Santiago said 98% of raw water drawn for consumption here came from rivers.

“If the pollution issue is not solved, the cost of treating river water will increase and this would result in tariffs increasing as well, ” he said earlier in a speech.

Santiago also said that SPAN suggested making changes to the Water Services Industry Act 2006 to increase fines for those caught polluting rivers.

Water quality specialist Dr Zaki Zainudin said while there were laws that limited effluent discharge, they were very limited.

He pointed out that the Environmental Quality Act (EQA) 1974 regulated what was allowed to be released into water bodies but added that the parameters under the Act would not meet those of the National Water Quality Standards.

“Compliance to the law doesn’t mean the river will not be polluted, ” Zaki said.

Source: TheStar