Even with the completion of the controversial Sungai Selangor Dam in about three years, future water needs of Selangor will have to be met by supply from other states like Pahang, according to the projection of demand by the Selangor Water Works Department or Jabatan Bekalan Air (JBA).
"Pahang has been chosen as the location of another dam that will have to be built within three years after the Selangor Dam is completed, due to the fact that water consumption rates will increase based on the figures supplied to us by the government," said Malaysian Nature Society executive director Dr Loh Chi Leong.
In the long term, the Klang Valley's demand for more water can only be met through more new dams in Pahang and water will be channeled through the mountains via pipelines, Loh told malaysiakini .
When asked to confirm whether or not MNS was against the Selangor Dam project, Loh said that although MNS regrets the need for the dam, but there was no alternative and that any delay in construction would be critical.
However, MNS' pro-dam stance has been criticised by another environment group, the Save the Sungai Selangor (SOS).
SOS spokesman Dr Kua Kia Soong questioned the principles and ethics involving MNS' acceptance of the RM1 million grant from the government to conduct a study on the famous Sungai Selangor's firefly colony, which is to be conducted concurrently with the building of the dam.
This, he said, gave rise to a conflict of interest situation.
Loh, in reaction to the mounting criticisms, said that for the sake of transparency, an independent committee comprising people from various universities would be formed to review the results of the firefly study.
According to Kua, there appears to be a contradiction between the figures quoted by Splash (the dam concessionaire) and the figures supplied by Selangor JBA.
"The government is looking from the supply side of things, instead of looking at water demand management. This means that you can keep building dams and even if a hundred dams were built, until the issue of demand management has been addressed, there will be waste, because there will still be leakage," he said.
It has been reported that 40 percent of the water currently supplied to consumers is lost through leakage, which contributes to the rising levels of demand.
Expressing his regret at the situation, Kua stated that for anyone to say that building more dams will solve the water crisis would be irresponsible, and reiterated his stand on the issue, which could only be solved by proper water demand management.
"Any responsible environmental society must make its stand against dam-building," said Kua.
Meanwhile, SOS Selangor is seeking a meeting with Splash consortium and Special Functions Minister Daim Zainuddin in the next two weeks. The Selangor government has a partial stake in the consortium through Kumpulan Darul Ehsan.
