KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 4 — The Selangor State Government has been urged to strengthen monitoring and enforcement, as well as develop an inventory of industrial and commercial waste from factories to overcome the problem of pollution affecting the water supply.

Association of Water and Energy Research Malaysia (Awer) president S.  Piarapakaran said this was to prevent industrial wastes being dumped into rivers by factories, like what happened in the contamination of Sungai Semenyih, recently.

"If an inventory is developed, firm action according to the rules set out in an inventory can be taken to overcome the problem of pollution caused by factory waste disposal causing disruption of water supply to consumers,” he told Bernama today.

Other than that, the Department of Environment (DOE) should also insist that all chemicals which will cause contamination and is used in the manufacturing process is registered for monitoring purposes.

"In this way, the DOE will monitor the use of chemicals by consumers and industrial plants so that it does not affect the environment and cause environmental pollution,” he said.

On Sept 23, the Selangor Water Group, in a statement announced that the Sungai Semenyih water treatment plant had to be closed from Sept 22 to 24 due to severe water contamination caused by factory waste from the Semenyih Hi-Tech Industrial area.

It caused a prolonged disruption of water supply to Hulu Langat, Kuala Langat, Petaling and Sepang, and today again the plant had to be closed due to the same problem.

Federation of Malaysian Consumer Associations (Fomca) deputy chairman Mohd Yusof Abdul Rahman said the DOE and the Selangor Water Management Authority (LUAS) need to monitor the operation of factories around Sungai Semenyih as the disposal of waste has been identified as the source of contamination.

"The state and Federal government should consider upgrading the water treatment plant to supply potable water to consumers in the future,” he said.

Meanwhile, Water and Energy Consumer Association of Malaysia (Wecam) chief executive officer Nurul Naim Razali said they want the state government to provide a comprehensive plan to address the water crisis mainly stemming from pollution.

He said the pollution has occurred many times even more so with the increasing number of factories especially in areas along Sungai Semenyih and Sungai Langat.

"This situation has also resulted in uncontrolled contamination caused by too many factories that dispose their wastes into the river and no action has been taken such as closing the operation of the factory concerned.

"In addition, the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water should also be concerned about the issue since water is a basic human need which need to be protected,” he said. — Bernama