SHAH ALAM: The Association of Water and Energy Research (Awer) has urged the authorities to beef up their monitoring system on waste water that are released into the rivers.
Awer president, Piarapakaran S., told the News Straits Times, the recent incidents of water treatment plants shutdown due to odour pollution cannot be taken lightly.
He said in the case of odour pollution detected in the Semantan river, there are a lot of plantation activities around the area and massive plots of lands being cleared around the catchment area, both of which could be the source of pollution.
If the problem is not solved, Piarapakaran said, it may affect the function of the Langat 2 water treatment plant, which is expected to start operating in 2019.
He pointed out that almost 20 per cent of treated water will come from Langat 2 and should another crisis occur, it will drastically affect even more consumers.
As for contamination in the Semenyih river, he said that the presence of illegal factories may very well be the cause. He stressed that the authorities should monitor all factories, legal or illegal, with equal enforcement strength.