Sungai Selangor must be designated as national security area — Mahdzir

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SERI MANJUNG: The Sungai Selangor, which supplies 60 per cent of raw water for four Water Treatment Plants (WTP) to meet the needs of the Klang Valley population, must be designated as national security area.

Energy, Green Technology and Water Deputy Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said it was time that agencies such as the Department of Environment, Department of Irrigation and Drainage and the Selangor Water Management Authority took a serious view and submitted the matter to the government for scrutiny.

“The capital of Malaysia depends on the source of the Sungai Selangor water … imagine if anything worse happens other than the recent diesel
spill.

This, of course, can cripple daily activities in Kuala Lumpur, the economic pulse of the nation,” he told reporters after visiting the Sultan Azlan Shah Power Plant here today.

He said if the area was designated as a security area, then stricter enforcement could be carried out to protect the river.

If the area was not designated as a security area, a task force integrated by the agencies should be created, noted Mahdzir.

He said, although the river and the water were under the jurisdiction of the state, nevertheless, the question was whether the Selangor Government could ensure that stricter enforcement would be carried out, as well as the diesel spill incident that occurred recently, would not recur.

On Friday, Puncak Niaga Sdn Bhd and Syarikat Pengeluar Air Sungai Selangor Sdn Bhd detected a diesel spill from a garbage truck depot flowing into the Sungai Selangor, triggering a water crisis and causing four water treatment plants to be shut down.

On the construction of the Langat 2 water treatment plant that would bring in raw water from Pahang, he said the federal government and Selangor were in discussion to reach a mutual agreement to resolve the matter. — Bernama