RAW WATER SECURITY NEEDS TO BE SAFEGUARDED

PETALING JAYA (Malaysia), July 27 (Bernama) -- The Water and Energy
Consumers Association of Malaysia (WECAM) Monday called on state governments to
take immediate steps to safeguard the security of raw water as it is under
threat of being polluted.

Its secretary-general S. Piarapakaran said more than 95 per cent of raw
water sources for drinking water came directly from rivers or dams built around
catchment areas and these sources were being polluted due to massive development
in their vicinity.

He told Bernama that since the raw water sources came under the jurisdiction
of the state governments, it was their responsibility to ensure that sufficient
safeguards were in place so as to not to "disrupt" supply.

Among the safeguards are to:

* gazette all water catchment areas into permanent reserves where no
development should be allowed,

* strictly control the discharge by factories into rivers and tributaries,

* put in place a plan to integrate wastes from various industries so that
they can be properly treated and disposed of, and

* place buffers or physical barriers to prevent soil from erosion from
entering rivers.

-- BERNAMA