KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 — The implementation of a centralised treatment system is expected to improve efficiency of industrial waste management and upgrade the quality of the country’s water resources.
Water quality and modelling expert Dr Zaki Zainudin said the move would also ensure that each factory complied with the effluent discharge standards as set while helping the authorities and state governments in conducting monitoring.
“I find that many industrial areas in Malaysia have yet to implement a centralised industrial (waste) treatment system as currently each factory has its own wastewater treatment system in which they treat (the wastewater) and discharge it into the river. However, we are not sure whether each factory adhere strictly to the stipulated standards.
“Implementing this centralised system will also facilitate the authorities to detect the disposal of prohibited waste by a factory and take appropriate action,” he said.
He said this during a webinar held in conjunction with the National Environment Day which was that was streamed live via the Department of Irrigation and Drainage’s (DID) Facebook yesterday.
Zaki said this centralised system would also allow the implementation of water reclamation or the process of treating and converting wastewater into water that can be used for other purposes.
He said water reclamation could also contribute to the state government’s revenue and at the same time help restore the environment.
Meanwhile, the deputy secretary-general of Friends of Rivers Malaysia, Mansor Abd Ghani stressed the importance of raising public awareness to protect the country’s water resources through various efforts including “gotong-royong” activities.
He said over the past three years, Friends of Rivers Malaysia in collaboration with local communities has carried out river cleaning works at 52 locations every week in an effort to provide a better understanding about the importance of rivers to the public.
The move, he said, coincided with the government’s target to create a 10,000-kilometre national river trail by 2030, as an ecosystem with good water quality for community use.
— Bernama
