‘Include consumers’ statutory right to sue water polluters in Wasia amendment’

KUALA LUMPUR – Amendments to the Water Services Industry Act 2006 (Act 655 or Wasia) should include a provision to allow consumers, residents, and business owners affected by water cuts stemming from pollution to sue the perpetrators, said lawyer Derek Fernandez. 

Fernandez, who is also Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) councillor and an expert on local government, said it is timely and prudent for the government to amend the act. It would entail increasing the penalties and fines related to those who pollute water sources or supplies to 100 times the current amount. 

This comes after Natural Resources, Environment, and Climate Change Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad told the Dewan Rakyat yesterday that the new proposed maximum fine will be set at RM10 million, a staggering increase from the current RM100,000 penalty. 

Fernandez also applauded Nik Nazmi and the current administration for their political will to reform the act as the first of many steps to actively increase water security in the country. 

However, he said enforcement actions of any act remain a problem but can be resolved if the consumers are given statutory rights to take legal action against the perpetrators. 

Fernandez said the statutory rights to sue those who pollute water sources should also include the right for affected consumers to ask for compensation of a minimum of RM1,000 a day. This has been his consistent view following a series of water disruptions in the Klang Valley in recent years. 

He opined that by doing so, there will be class action suits by thousands – if not hundreds of thousands – of affected consumers against perpetrators who pollute water sources. 

“This would provide an extremely powerful mechanism in the hands of those affected most in the event the enforcement mechanisms of the local, state and federal government are not efficient enough in dealing with this crime of polluting the waterways,’’ he said. 

The veteran lawyer said this would add layers of protection to water sources in the country while ensuring that perpetrators are properly penalised for their crimes. 

Fernandez also opined that Section 121 of Wasia should be expanded towards the type of activities in relation to pollution. 

Currently, the aforementioned section deemed a person has committed an offence if they pollute water sources with the intention to cause death, with the knowledge to cause death or endangering the lives of others. 

Similarly, the government should also strengthen corresponding laws to Wasia, in the same vein that Section 277 of the Penal Code makes it an offence to voluntarily corrupt or foul “the water of any public spring or reservoir, so as to render it less fit for the purpose for which it is ordinarily used.” 

It provides for a maximum jail term of three months, or a fine of up to RM1,000, or both.  

In his speech in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, Nik Nazmi also said that the Wasia amendment would also see the maximum jail term for committing an offence increased from one year to 15 years. 

He said the amendment is currently being reviewed by the ministry before being presented to the Attorney-General’s Chambers and is expected to be tabled in Parliament during its next sitting in June. – The Vibes, February 18, 2023