It is the same story again. The operations of two water treatment plants had to be stopped because of another pollution incident in Sungai Semenyih.
This has again disrupted water supply to thousands of households in the Klang Valley.
Some businesses which rely on a consistent supply of water were also affected. They will no doubt be in foul mood against the authorities for this repeat incident. Social media is filled with brickbats questioning why we are always reacting rather than getting to the root cause to solve the problem.
The facts are clear. We have not been able to stop the pollution of our rivers no matter what laws and regulations are put in place. With the uncontrolled rise in illegal factories in many parts of the country, it is next to impossible to supervise their wastewater commitments. The approval for the setting up of factories come from local authorities.
The Department of Environment (DoE), which is empowered to supervise and enforce proper wastewater treatment systems in factories, is described by many as toothless. The evidence shows that the enforcement has not been effective.
Therefore, as long as illegal factories are allowed to operate in the country, the issue of river pollution will not go away. The closure of water treatment plants, especially in Selangor where the mushrooming of illegal factories is rampant, will continue to happen.
This is not healthy for businesses and investments. Water is an important element in many manufacturing operations. The problem is river pollution has been the cause of water disruption to communities.
The answer lies in the water treatment system which would be able to cope with pollution. A treatment process which can efficiently remove pollutants will stop water disruption, which is the real pain for all.
Talking to some experts in water treatment technologies, it has become evident that there are technologies that can efficiently remove such pollutants. The technologies are admittedly slightly more expensive than the ones for water remediation.
The investment in advanced technologies is well worth it. The important thing is that such technologies are already proven to be technically workable. In fact, they are widely used in most developed economies, which look at water as something that we should not gamble with.
So what are the technologies that water treatment operators need to invest in? One technology which has gained popularity in the treatment of problematic water is membrane technology. One of the most problematic water sources in the world is sea water.
However, as a result of research and development in the synthesis of various kinds of membrane, desalination plants in the world now use membrane technology to remove objectionable elements, mainly salt. As a result of the advances made in the design and operation of membrane systems, the costs have also come down significantly.
Countries which deploy membrane technology to desalinate sea water no longer complain of water disruptions. We all know that sea water is the most abundant source of water in the world. There is no reason why the same membrane technology cannot be evaluated to improvise our water treatment facilities.
It is obvious that the water authorities here do not practise proper risk management. If they have, this issue of frequent water disruption should have been history a long time ago.
PROFESSOR DATUK DR AHMAD IBRAHIM
Fellow, Academy of Science,
UCSI University
source: https://www.nst.com.my/opinion/letters/2020/10/631037/overcoming-water-pollution
