Sunday, September 06, 2020

Water, water Everywhere... but not in the taps

We are currently experiencing a rainy season in the country. However the large volume of rainwater is no reprieve, because our taps are dry. An announcement was made by the water authorities on Thursday that some parts of Klang Valley will experience unscheduled water cuts for at least 4 days. FOUR DAYS??!!???!! Someone should RESIGN because of this, as it keeps happening!!!

The reason is due to pollution of Sungai Gong that feeds to the water catchment area for 1.2 million people in and around KL, myself & family included. It is believed that this pollution is caused by a heavy machinery factory located in Rawang owned by 4 brothers- the same company was said to be the cause of the previous pollution-induced water disruption. The penalty for causing this pollution is said to be RM60,000 (only!). There has been public outcry to impose prison sentence on the owners, and increased sum of penalty to take into account losses to households and businesses due to the water disruption.

Despite the public outcry, if the law does not have a provision of heavy penalty on polluters, the most that these culprits have to pay is RM60,000.

In the meantime, affected parties: some are my own family members, friends and acquaintance scrambled in search for water, causing mineral water to be sold out and massive jams everywhere. During the evening showers, many collected rainwater for household use.

I wish we could have a penalty of community service for these owners: to cut their water supply for four days without prior notice; for them to queue and collect water at the water lorries and carry the pails to all our houses; they must clean our toilets and overrun dishes in the kitchen sink; they must refund us for all the purchases of mineral water and transport cost, or just queue them up to face verbal abuse from all the affected users. I am THAT fed up and upset with this blatant disregard of other peoples' difficulty.

Imagine if this incident were to happen in Japan, or the UK. How things would have been handled so differently and equitably. In Malaysia, once the water is restored everyone (especially the authorities) will be less alert. The operators get a slap on the wrist, gets a suspension order for a few days and resume their operations thereafter, until the next pollution. Oh well

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home