We refer to the report Gerakan: Log forest reserve, lose next polls.

In recent developments, we notice that water catchment areas are being developed or exploited.

Many parts of the society show concern over this issue and it is also important for us to know that clean water in Malaysia is becoming a scarce resource.

More that 90% of raw water sourced for drinking water comes from rivers either directly from rivers or from water dams built around water catchment areas.

The figure is alarmingly big and any disturbance in the natural flow of the rivers will affect raw water security.

Fomca has been doing careful observations and studies on the situation. We would like to highlight some of our suggestions to ensure a safe and continuous drinking water supply to the rakyat.

First and foremost, all water catchment areas must be made permanent reserve areas. This is to ensure that there is no development encroaching into these areas.

For instance, if we have a highway running on top of such area and an accident takes place where huge amount of poisonous chemical pours into the river or catchment area, it poses immediate threat. There have been such reported cases which was were managed to be controlled.

What if these accidents are not reported and the chemicals cannot be traced by the available testing requirements at the water treatment plant facilities?

To add to the risk, if the chemical poses a threat to human health, it may escape the water treatment plant and enter the distribution pipes to be received directly by consumers.

Fomca hopes this one example will be able to justify the actual risk to raw water.

Secondly, the Environment Department’s (DOE) standard for wastewater discharged must be revised. These standards must be made more stringent. We used to have not many industries that discharged wastewater into the rivers.

However, with our recent rapid industrialisation, we now have more discharges and accumulatively this will be a big amount.

Currently, the strict requirement for raw water intake for drinking is becoming difficult to follow.

Such standard or regulation should also ensure there is constant amendment to the standard to ensure any large volume of wastewater discharge will not affect the quality of raw water.

Another overlooked area is the wastewater from domestic users which contains wastewater from kitchen and garage. Can this wastewater be treated together with sewerage water? Definitely.

This can also include the solid organic waste produced by household. Eventually we can reduce the amount of our waste flow to landfills.

Thirdly, we see many reserve forests which were gazetted many years ago slowly being developed. The decisions to gazette them was made earlier to safeguard water resources for future generations.

There is recent research that reveals that tropical trees are losing their ability to absorb carbon dioxide effectively due to the increase in global temperature. The only way in to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is to change it into organic compound through photosynthesis by trees.

This natural ‘sponge’ ensures our survival. The role of trees now becomes even more vital and every step we take must be done carefully.

Finally, we, as Malaysians, must be aware and be wise in every action we do for every action has an equal and opposite reaction. It will come back to us. Not only us, even to our children and grandchildren.

Always remember that one of the eight rights of a consumer is right to a safe and comfortable living environment. It is also our responsibility to ensure we take care of our tropical biodiversity.

As all of us know, Malaysia’s tropical forest is listed as one of the 13 mega biodiversity forests in the world. This shows the need to preserve our jungles in their natural condition.

Think before acting. You make a difference.

The writer is president, Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca).