GEORGE TOWN: Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) has called for the establishment of a single federal regulatory authority to protect rivers, as they are the nation's lifeline in water supply.
SAM president Meenakshi Raman said about 95 per cent of the country's water needs came from the rivers.
"We reiterate this call, which has been made in the past, in view of the major water disruption in the Klang Valley these past few days, caused by pollution from factory sources.
"As the Klang Valley water disruption incident has shown, about 1.2 million consumers were adversely affected, and damage was also caused to many businesses, which were unable to operate without water," she said today.
The call for a single federal agency to protect the rivers, according to Meenaksi, had also been made several times before by National Water Services Commission (SPAN) former chairman Charles Santiago.
SAM, she added, was in total agreement with him.
Meenakshi said, as is well known, currently there were too many agencies and authorities involved in the protection of rivers, and a lack of coordination between them, giving rise to the story of "everybody, somebody, anybody and nobody" in performing the functions needed.
"We agree that a single, federal authority is needed, whose sole duty should be to look after the country's rivers, including in ensuring that the water catchments which are in the states, are properly protected and water resources properly managed.
"Piecemeal approaches, poor planning and lack of strong enforcement measures will not work anymore, as exemplified by the Klang Valley disaster and the Sungai Kim Kim tragedy in Johor, not to mention other river water pollution over the years," she said.
She added that the problem of climate change would cause further stress on water resources, with more droughts and lack of rain.
This, she said, was compounded by the exploitation of rivers for sand-mining and pollution, with the dumping of industrial and household wastes into them, as some continue to treat them as sewers, rather than as water lifelines.
She noted that a further threat was hazardous and toxic waste facilities upstream at water intake points and along the rivers, with many businesses saving costs by simply dumping their waste into rivers.
"With a lack of proper continuous monitoring and enforcement, our rivers and water sources are in constant threat of high levels of water contamination, rendering poor quality water unfit for human consumption.
"Unsuspecting and innocent water users are at risk from ill-health and ailments stemming from consuming rubbish, sewage, plastics, chemicals and heavy metals.
"We agree with Santiago that rivers should be treated as a national security area with buffers of around 200 metres on both sides where possible.
"They must be monitored with updated technology, CCTVs and sensors that prevent encroachments into these zones.
"Unless we have a federal regulatory body which is independent and answerable to Parliament, the Klang Valley water disruption disaster will be repeated, not just in Selangor, but in other states as well," she asserted.
Meenakshi said it was time to stop politicking between the federal government and the states, as well as the turf wars among the many agencies involved, and take action before another disaster happens.
"Efforts must be expedited to enact the changes to the current Environment Quality Act 1974 so that it has more force and bite to deter polluters from treating the rivers as dumping grounds for their waste.
"We must learn from the grave lessons and not take our water resources for granted, as water is a basic need for all life," she stressed.