KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 — While Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali defended the state’s water crisis as not critical, the Sukarelawan Malaysia president has argued otherwise, saying it poses a serious public health concern.
According to Isham Jalil, the state government’s failure in managing the water supply and its delay in the state water industry restructuring has led to inadequate maintenance of the water supply system in Selangor in the last 10 years.
He said decades-old water pipes had not been replaced and caused frequent pipe bursts that in turn, caused frequent water supply disruptions.
“Every time a pipe bursts, dirt and soil enter the water supply system, which causes contamination from bacteria, minerals or heavy metal.
“And when there are thousands of cases of burst pipes in Selangor every year, imagine the amount of contamination that enters the water supply system,” he explained in a statement here today.
During a Parliament sitting last week, Mohamed Azmin, who is also Gombak MP, said the water problem in Selangor was not critical as compared to the national debt issue.
Further in the statement, Isham, a Harvard-trained economist, said water treatment plants not adequately maintained in Selangor, had worsened this situation and that murky and rusty water coming out of water taps in Selangor were symptomatic of this problem.
“What is the purpose of having free water if there is no water? And even when there is water in Selangor, the water is not clean and poses health risks.
“Despite collecting billions of ringgit in state taxes that have led to an increase in house prices and cost of living in Selangor, the state government under Pakatan failed to solve even a basic problem such as water supply after 10 years of ruling the state,” he noted.
He also cautioned that drinking contaminated water from an inadequately maintained water supply system in medium to long-term could cause damage to internal organs, nervous system, bones and other diseases, especially to children, infants and the elderly.
Isham also noted that in recent years, more than half of the water supply disruptions in Malaysia occurred in Selangor.
“According to the Malaysian Water Association, Selangor experienced 259,000 water supply disruption cases compared to 416,000 cases nationwide.
“Although there were water supply disruption cases in other states, it is not as bad as in Selangor where millions of people were affected by supply disruption that lasted for almost a week,” said Isham, who had previously served at the Economic Planning Unit, Prime Minister’s Department.
Pahang, a state bigger than Selangor, only experienced two thousand water supply disruption cases, which is a hundred times lesser than in Selangor, he added. — Bernama
