The Malaysian Insight

INDIVIDUAL states are an obstacle to reforming how the country fights chronic river pollution, which has caused disasters such as the Sg Kim Kim incident in Johor and unscheduled water cuts in the Klang Valley, said industry sources.

They said this is because state governments will likely resist the creation of a federal-controlled agency to manage rivers and natural reservoirs, which the federal constitution says falls under the state.

States sell raw water from rivers and dams to utility companies which then treat it and distribute it to users, they said.

By transferring power over rivers to a federal authority, a proposal by the national water regulator, SPAN, states fear they will lose a vital chunk of income.

Officials said a new federal authority might also trim the power of local councils, which also come under states, to approve projects.

This is since the planned federal river management authority will have the final say when it comes to any development, be it a factory, housing project or plantation located near rivers.

Data from SPAN, or the National Water Services Commission, show that discharge from mining, plantation, logging and factories are sources of river pollution.

The proposal for a federal river authority comes as the current system where about 17 different agencies manage raw water sources has proven to be inadequate.

Last year, there were 574 cases of water-treatment plant shutdowns in Pahang, Johor, Selangor and Kelantan caused by river pollution from industries, farms and plantations, mining and property projects.

The Pasir Gudang disaster where about 6,000 people were hospitalised after inhaling toxic fumes was caused by chemicals dumped in the river by nearby industries.

In Selangor, treatment plants supplying more than one million households were shut down after diesel contamination in the rivers where they were located.

SPAN commissioner Dr Faizal Parish Abdullah estimated that the country only has a window of about three years to stave off catastrophic deterioration of its water sources.

“Every year, the quality of our rivers is decreasing. We have three years to put in place a system to stop this decline because if we don’t, in 10 years, we’ll have to shell out RM50 to RM100 billion to install new treatment plants to process severely polluted water.”   

SPAN chairman Charles Santiago is aware of the obstacles states pose to the idea of a federal authority taking over their functions.

“In order to push through this river management agency, you will have to massage a lot of egos,” said Santiago.

When it is established, the water protection agency will manage all rivers which supply 98% of the raw water that is treated and consumed.

Such an authority would unify all aspects of river management, including monitoring quality, preventing pollution and deciding what businesses and industries can be close to rivers.

Currently, all these functions are carried out by 17 agencies divided between federal and state governments with varying responsibilities.

In order for it to have real power, Santiago said the agency should be placed under the Prime Minister’s Department so that it can unify all the separate agencies and to act against polluters.

“One way to cut across red tape is for the government to declare water as a national security issue.”

He added that states can be persuaded to accept the agency as the authority would still collect revenue from the sale of raw water and channel it back to them.

“So the issue of lost revenue is irrelevant. I think states controlled by Pakatan Harapan will be able to accept this. But the challenge is from states Pakatan does not control,” he said referring to Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Sabah and Sarawak. – August 16, 2019.