PETALING JAYA: A proposal for a clause in the Environmental Quality Act (EQA) to allow parties affected by water cuts to claim compensation and bankrupt polluters has received unanimous support from environmental groups.
Ecotourism and Conservation Society of Malaysia chief executive officer Andrew Sebastian said the clause must be strong to be impactful.
“Hopefully, it covers everyone, both the public and businesses, to ensure that people who pollute waterways, especially water catchment areas, are punished.”
Sebastian was commenting on a call made by the Association of Water and Energy Research Malaysia urging the government to introduce heftier penalties to curb frequent water cuts in Selangor caused by raw water pollution.
He said the EQA should also cover the enforcement and protection of river reserves from the point of source to where the river meets the ocean.
“In other words, it should cover the whole river system.”
Sebastian said it should be made a criminal offence to pollute waterways, especially catchment areas that provide raw water.
He added that incidents of water pollution are mainly due to the lack of awareness, enforcement and mandate by agencies to protect water catchment areas.
“Every river coming from forests and peat swamps must be protected against human activity and development, be it rural or urban.
“Rivers and waterways must be seen as our country’s heritage, not just something that is there for our convenience. We have a serious lack of respect for our rivers and wetlands and we have to do something to change this mindset.”
Environmental non-governmental organisation Ecoknights vice-president Amlir Ayat said the point is to ensure that justice is served, not necessarily to bankrupt anyone although that may occur.
“The magnitude of the penalty should depend on the impact of the pollution. The quantum of the compensation should be equivalent to the cost of the damage and rehabilitation work.
“The mechanism and conditions will be challenging and may demand painstaking examination of various social, economic and environmental factors.”
Amlir said tighter laws do not ensure higher compliance, but enforcement does. And the success of enforcement depends on the level of integrity and credibility of the enforcement institution.
“More often than not, the quantum of penalty does not match the enormity of the crime. Water pollution should be seen as more than just an environmental crime. In many cases, it is a social crime affecting the lives of people. Again, to come up with a true monetary figure as a fine could be very problematic.”
He added that there has been no official figure on the number of “dead” rivers, perhaps because it is not an officially defined term. Nonetheless, he said there were 25 such rivers in 2019.
“Generally, dead rivers refer to those that cannot support aquatic life, although such a criterion may be questioned for its specificity. There have been a lot of efforts in the past to revive such rivers but with little success.”
Amlir said the government should demolish illegal factories, enhance monitoring and close polluting factories or companies until they can prove that their waste management operations meet the relevant standards.
Other recommendations include reviewing current legislation to create a fairer justice system, eliminating corrupt practices, applying new technology to detect pollution as close to the source as possible and rewarding informants.