Kedah group to help sue Klang Valley water polluters

Water supply to the Klang Valley was disrupted since Thursday. Supplies have now resumed to a third of residents.

ALOR SETAR: A Kedah-based consumer group today said it would help Klang Valley residents to launch a civil suit against a factory which is suspected of having caused disruptions in water supply to Klang Valley residents since Thursday.

Consumers’ Association of Kedah secretary Mohamad Yusrizal Yusoff said the suit would be in solidarity with the consumers in the Klang Valley who are made to suffer as a result of the violation of environmental laws.

The factory was alleged to have allowed the discharge of solvents into a river in Rawang, a tributary of the Sungai Selangor, where raw water is abstracted for the use of people in the Klang Valley.

The pollution caused the closure of four water treatment plants and disruption of water supplies to the Klang Valley since Thursday. Supplies have resumed to about a third of affected residents today.

Yusrizal told FMT: “We will represent the consumers in Selangor to sue the factory which had allegedly caused the river to be polluted. We have since consulted our lawyers and they have agreed to take action against the said factory.

“While we know we are an NGO from Kedah, we feel compelled to support the people of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, in claiming their consumer rights. One of the eight rights of a consumer is the right to have basic necessities and the right to have a healthy and safe environment.”

He said the association has taken up legal cases outside of Kedah before. It helped a group of NGOs and businesses who are suing a person said to be the originator of the Sivagangga cluster of Covid-19 infections. - FMT