Too many agencies, Span moots one federal authority to solve water woes

The National Water Services Commission (Span) is studying the possibility of setting up a federal authority to govern all rivers in the country.

Participants at the commission’s seminar on river pollution today heard that a key challenge to effective river management was the lack of integration between the multiple ministries, federal agencies, state governments, local councils and water concessionaires involved.

Span chairperson Charles Santiago thus mooted a “National River Protection Authority” be established to coordinate river management efforts.

“Our discussion earlier clearly showed that we have a problem with enforcement, too many agencies are involved [...] the question here is who will take ownership and actually solve the problems facing our rivers.

“[...] this has been a 30-year discussion so we have to look for a way forward and see how to integrate the entire system under one authority.

“And to have it under the Prime Minister’s Department to give it the power and also money to solve some of these issues,” he said during a press conference after the seminar which was held in Petaling Jaya.

Span CEO Ahmad Faizal Abdul Rahman concurred, adding that having such an authority would prevent parties from pushing responsibility or pointing fingers at each other during times of crisis.

“There must a body that tells (agencies) what to do and checks, if they have done it [...], we need a body under the Prime Minister’s Department which will have the power to do this,” Ahmad Faizal said.

‘Everyone worked individually’

Earlier during the seminar, Span commissioner and Tebrau MP Steven Choong Shiau Yoon shared his experience in handling two recent health scares involving Sungai Kim Kim in Johor.

The river, which is located in his constituency, had been found to be polluted with chemical waste. Toxic fumes from the river caused thousands of schoolchildren and residents in the area to fall ill and as many as 111 schools had to be closed temporarily.

“Sitting through all the discussions, as an MP, I concluded that everyone (all the agencies) worked individually. No one actually tried to coordinate or take full responsibility,” Choong said during the question-and-answer session.

Meanwhile, Department of Environment Water and Marine division director Mohd Hidzir Bakar presented scenarios where one incident of pollution could be handled by up to 14 different bodies.

Sometimes, one water treatment plant could be managed by up to four different agencies.

Mohd Hidzir also presented data on how sewage treatment plants were often the biggest contributor of pollutants to raw water sources, way ahead of industrial or commercial activities.

This was the case with Selangor’s Sungai Semenyih.

River pollution has also caused water treatment plants across the nation to be shut down, each time causing water shortages affecting thousands of households.

Span commissioner Faizal Parish presented that in 2018, plants in Pahang had to be closed 449 times, resulting in some 2,816 hours of water disruption.

Plants in Selangor, meanwhile, had to be shut down 92 times (621 hours) and in Johor, 30 times (968 hours).

Tougher laws, enforcement

Moving forward, speakers at the seminar proposed the government be more stringent in enforcing existing regulations involving rivers and water bodies.

They also wanted sewage plants to be upgraded with the latest technology.

Environment specialist and engineer Zaki Zainudin urged the government to set “water quality targets” for all rivers and compel the disparate agencies to coordinate rehabilitation efforts towards meeting those targets.

Zaki further suggested that river pollution be more accurately measured using a “carrying-capacity approach” where a river’s total volume was considered and not merely the concentration of pollutants in a water sample.

Charles proposed that the Water Services Industry Act 2006 be amended to increase the penalties imposed on polluters.

“We hope that the Ministry of Water, Land and Water Resources will consider the amendment in the near future,” he said.

The seminar was followed by a closed-door workshop where participants were tasked with coming up with a strategic action plan for rivers. - Mkini