JOHOR BARU: The Sungai Johor Basin, which stretches more than 100km, is now under stress because water demand has significantly exceeded natural supply, warns a Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) researcher.
UTM's Centre for Environmental Sustainability and Water Security researcher Dr Zulfaqar Sa'adi said the river, which is a vital water source for Johor and Singapore, is now deemed a "very highly stressed" river.
"A highly stressed river is one where the water demand significantly exceeds the available natural supply and the river can no longer be relied upon for expansion," he said.
He described the recent pollution involving a sand bund pond burst as unfortunate and expressed concern that more such incidents could occur during the coming monsoon season.
"We need to have strict enforcement and maintenance of these bunds. They should be structurally safe to avoid such incidents."
Safe Johor River founder Poh Pai Yik said authorities should tighten the issuance of permits for sand mining operations.
"In the past, companies that polluted the river such as chicken farms faced heavy fines and even closure. Why can't we take such action now?" he said.
Green Earth Society Johor president P. Sivakumar said the Environment Department should carry out 24-hour enforcement along Sungai Johor.
He added that the state government should form a special secretariat to empower non-governmental organisations and village heads to be river rangers who can alert the authorities before disaster strikes.
"Besides stricter enforcement, we also need people to provide tip-offs to avert such cases, which cause a lot of hardship to the public," Sivakumar added.
Without a proper water resources management system, he said, it would be difficult to convince investors, especially data centres, to operate in the state.
Meanwhile, state works, transport, infrastructure and communications committee chairman Mohamad Fazli Mohamad Salleh said so far, only the Linggiu water treatment plant, with about 846 water account holders, is operating.
"The Semangar water treatment plant is also operating, but so far, only half of the 213,683 account holders were getting water as at 7.30pm on Sunday.
"We expect the recovery period to take at least 12 hours for water supply to be fully restored," he said.
Mohamad Fazli added that for the Sg Johor water treatment plant, which has been shut down since 10pm on Oct 31, they were waiting for the nephelometric turbidity units (NTU) to drop to 900 before starting operations.
"Now, the NTU is 1,330 as at 8.30pm on Sunday," he said, adding that it supplies water to 191,275 account holders in Johor Baru, Pontian and Kota Tinggi.