Recently,\nissues related to river pollution have become a grievance in the community,\nparticularly in the Klang Valley, making it difficult for the daily activities\nof the people. Indeed, the problem of river pollution directly affects water usage\nand poses a danger to health and public safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It has been found that the rapid\ndevelopment all over the world has caused many sources of drinking water to be\npolluted, and it is estimated that more than 780 million individuals worldwide\ndo not have access to clean and safe drinking water. In fact, almost 2.5\nbillion people on earth do not have adequate sanitation services such as clean\nbathrooms. As a result, more than 2,000 children worldwide die every day due to\ndiarrhoea related to water resources and unsatisfactory hygiene levels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite suffering from a series of water supply disruptions due to river\npollution, Malaysians have yet to go through the pain of water disruption for a\nlong period as endured by farmers in India, some of whom have reportedly\ncommitted suicide since 1986 due to crops and farms that fail to be cultivated\nin addition to bearing the burden of debt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Similarly in Cape Town, South Africa, where the water crisis that hit\nthe city began in 2015 has forced local governments to declare day zero for the\nfirst time in 2017. The term of \u201cday zero\u201d refers to the control of water\nsupply level seven which is the water supply to the house is closed and each\nindividual can only get a water supply of 25 litres per day provided by the\nlocal government. Such is the price that has to be paid as a result of not\nmaintaining a good relationship with nature. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hence, Malaysians should learn from the water crises in other countries\nso that we can appreciate the benefits of water and do not arbitrarily pollute\nour rivers to ensure the sustainability of our water supply in the future is\nmore secure. When there are issues and problems related to water resources,\nthere is definitely the question of whether the existing legal system is enough\nto preserve them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Indeed, the existing laws in Malaysia are more than sufficient to\nconserve water resources. Rather the weakness is not in the law, but it is due\nto the lack of enforcement. Due to this, offenders who violate the law are not\nafraid to repeat their offenses because of the lack of firmness in the\nenforcement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, in the case of the Kim-Kim River pollution that occurred in\n2019, the offender had actually long dumped toxic waste into the river. However,\nthe community only knew about it after the prolonged hot weather in 2019 which\nproduced harmful gases from toxic waste in the river and caused the residents\nin the surrounding area to get sick. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This clearly shows the weakness in enforcement which the government\nneeds to rectify by strengthening the enforcement agencies so that they can be\nmore effective. In addition, there is also confusion among the community about\nthe agency responsible for monitoring river pollution activities. To clarify this\nconfusion, the Department of the Environment (DOE) under the Environmental\nQuality Act 1974 is only responsible for monitoring factories licensed to\nrelease scheduled waste. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The same Environmental Quality Act 1974 does not apply to Small and\nMedium Industries (SMIs) that do not release scheduled waste as it is licensed\nby the Local Authority. However, the number of Small and Medium Industries is\nincreasing and will further increase industrial waste, although it is not a\nscheduled waste under the said Act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pollution in Sungai Gong is one example of pollution from a factory\nlicensed by a local authority, which is the Selayang Municipal Council. However,\nwe cannot expect local authorities to understand the types of industrial waste\ngenerated from Small and Medium Industries because local authorities are not\nchemists. Therefore, the Environmental Quality Act 1974 needs to be amended to\ncontrol any industrial waste as the Department of the Environment has expertise\nin this regard, rather than the local authorities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition, there are also illegal factories that are not licensed by\nthe Department of the Environment or local authorities which pose the most\ndanger. For example in Selangor, the Selangor Water Management Board and the\nLand and Mineral Office need to take firm action by demolishing illegal\nfactories that contribute much pollution to rivers recently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Given the frequent river pollutions and water supply disruptions, will it\never end? Perhaps it will only end when all parties including members of the\ncommunity play their respective roles in maintaining the cleanliness of our\nrivers, which are the main sources of our drinking water in Malaysia. Meanwhile, the care and\npreservation of the environment is part of the religious demand. This is in\nline with Allah SWT\u2019s injunction which means: \u201c<\/em>He has produced you\nfrom the earth and settled you in it”<\/em>\n(Surah Hud<\/em> (11): 61).<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition, the Federal Government through the National Water Services\nCommission needs to immediately amend the Water Industry Services Act 2006 so\nthat they can prosecute river pollutants which had caused the Water Treatment\nPlant to be suspended and disrupted the water supply. Meanwhile, state\ngovernment agencies need to constantly monitor activities along the river so\nthat pollution can be avoided. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Besides that, environmental offenders need to be prosecuted and given\nmaximum punishment so that they do not repeat their offenses in the future. Meanwhile,\nthe industry that releases effluent waste should be required to clean it first\nbefore releasing it to the river. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, community members need to play a very important role in\naddressing the issue of river pollution and water supply disruption, such as market\nand night market traders, restaurant owners or hawkers and the general public\nshould no longer use drains or rivers as their bins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Indeed, clean unpolluted rivers is important to all parties. If everyone\nplays their respective roles, then our rivers will not die and they will remain\nclean and cheerful, thus becoming a safe habitat for various aquatic life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Recently, issues related to river pollution have become a grievance in the community, particularly in the Klang Valley, making it difficult for the daily activities of the people. Indeed, the problem of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"_wpzoom_pinterest_image_url":"","_wpzoom_pinterest_hidden_image":"0","_wpzoom_pinterest_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-straits-times","category-139","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28346\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}