JOHOR BARU: The Johor government will propose to the federal government to put in place a coordinated set of laws that can be enforced by all water supply-related agencies to address the problem of pollution at rivers.
Johor Public Works, Rural and Regional Development Committee chairman Datuk Hasni Mohammad said this needed to be done following cases of pollution at raw water resources such as rivers, which in turn had affected operations of water treatment plants and caused water supply disruptions.
"There is a need to coordinate the laws.
"We can see the differences in laws as with the Forestry (Department) that handles encroachment matters, Bakaj which monitors water intake points and whether anyone is diverting the water resources away from the water supply chain, and Department of Environment (DoE) which handles river polluters," said Hasni after the opening ceremony of the Water Leaders Forum organised by the Johor government at Mutiara Hotel here today.
Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin launched the forum. Also present was Singapore Environment and Natural Resources Minister, Masagos Zulkifli Masagos Mohamad.
Citing an example of conflicting laws in matters of water pollution, Hasni said that Bakaj and DoE had different measurement criteria to define a polluted body of water.
The state government will bring up the matter with the federal government," said Hasni.
Recent cases of water supply disruptions in the past three months in Johor were traced to ammonia pollution in rivers.
On July 23, ammonia pollution in Sungai Skudai caused a disruption in the regular water supply in eight areas in Johor Baru when production at the Sultan Ismail water treatment plant dropped to 50 per cent.