Selangor has taken measures to ensure the secured supply of clean water sources. — Filepic
SELANGOR Water Management Board (LUAS) spent RM30.2mil on its monitoring, control and enforcement activities between 2018 and 2023, says state infrastructure and agriculture committee chairman Izham Hashim.
Laying out the amount spent during the Selangor state assembly sitting, he said that in 2018, RM210,000 was used while in 2019 and 2020, the money spent was RM233,600 and RM360,000 respectively.
The amount soared in 2021 (RM8,867,743.29), 2022 (RM11,703,466.12) and 2023 (RM8,875,213.79), he added.
The cost surge between 2020 and 2021, he said, was due to operations requiring the pumping of water from ponds in Sungai Selangor and the forming of 24-hour surveillance teams.
Izham: Cost surge was due to pumping of water from ponds in Sungai Selangor and the forming of 24-hour surveillance teams.
The pumping took up to 70% of LUAS’ operating cost while the surveillance took up 21%.
Izham said this in response to Afif Bahardin (PN-Taman Medan), who asked about measures the state was taking to ensure secured supply of clean water sources.
Other costs incurred are from the building of its telemetry stations, surveillance equipment, maintenance work and infrastructure.
On the security of the state’s water supply and whether it was able to cater to the state’s burgeoning population, Izham said as of Feb 14, reliance was on the state’s seven dams that have the capacity to last for six months without rain.
Izham also said the Water Resources Assurance Scheme (SJAM) had taken measures to monitor areas in the state’s river basin which are susceptible to pollution.
Regulations have also been tightened to punish polluters with a minimum of a year’s jail and minimal fines of RM50,000.
Among the ongoing projects are diversion of Sungai Selangor in Rantau Panjang as well as an off-river augmentation programme where 100 ponds have been identified to be connected to rivers to add another three months’ water reserve.
“On top of this, we have the zero discharge policy expected to be enforced in the second half of the year when those discharging industrial effluent into rivers have to pay a fee,” he said, adding that Selangor would be the first state to enforce this.
“It must be remembered that planning for the state’s water resource is done at least 20 years into the future as Selangor not only needs to supply water for its own residents but also for Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya folk.
“Now we are using 5,000 million litres per day. The forecast is based on the addition of 300 million litres per day in the future,” he added.
Izham also said the Drainage and Irrigation Department had developed the National Water Balance Management System on how much water would be required for agriculture, livestock and human consumption.
“This is the hybrid off-river augmentation system (Horas) 3000 in Bestari Jaya, Kuala Selangor, which when completed, will have the capacity of supplying 3,000 million litres per day,” said Izham.
As for alternative water sources, Izham said the state imported water from Pahang and was looking into underground reserves.
“The last resort will be desalination where we will use water from the sea.
“However, there is no need for this method yet except for Pulau Ketam as their submarine cable is susceptible to damage due to the number of ships plying the area,” he added.
