Minister Noh Omar was told today not to politicise water disruptions currently plaguing Selangor.
Damansara Utama state assemblyperson Yeo Bee Yin said she was appalled by Noh, whom she said was more interested to score political points over Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali.
The urban wellbeing, housing and local government minister yesterday said that Azmin was too busy with politics to solve the state’s water supply woes.
Yeo however reminded Noh that monitoring river quality was the responsibility of both Department of Environment (DOE) - a federal agency - and Selangor Waters Management Authority (Luas), which is a state agency.
Pointing out how both governments should take collective responsibility in controlling river pollution, Yeo said the current focus was to work together to identify the source of the pollution to ensure that it doesn’t recur.
“After that, both governments need to ensure that the main culprit is charged at court and gets the heaviest punishment possible as provided for by the relevant laws,” she said in a statement today.
On the shutdown of the Semenyih water treatment plant (WTP) due to the Semenyih river pollution, Yeo said it was not the only factor for the prolonged water disruptions.
“If the Syabas water distribution network had sufficient water reserve, the Semenyih WTP shutdown would not have disrupted the water supply.
“Nevertheless, our water reserve margin is only at 1 percent. The reason for this low reserve margin is many years of underinvestment in water infrastructure under the private consessionaires,” she said.
Meanwhile, Yeo said unlike private concessionaires, the Selangor government has invested heavily in water infrastructure since taking over Syabas and Puncak Niaga at the end of last year.
She said the second and third mitigation projects as well as the upgrade of the Langat WTP and the construction of Semenyih 2 WTP were only some of the projects that the state government had undertaken.“With the on-going projects listed above, Selangor will achieve a comfortable water supply position in 2018,” she said.
However, Yeo admitted that the state government needs to invest in automated river quality monitoring and control system as well as run an effective water conservation programme to further ensure water security.
“All in all, there is still so much that needs to be done to ensure water security for the people of Selangor.
“If Noh Omar doesn’t have constructive suggestions, perhaps the best thing he can do is to let the Selangor state government do its work in peace,” she added. -Mkini
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