I was aghast at the audacity of V Subramaniam, general manager of operations for Perbadanan Urus Air Selangor (Puas), to shift the blame to others for his corporation's failure to produce wholesome water fit for human consumption ( New Straits Times , Nov 25, 2003).

He contended that consumers should play a part by reporting the occurrences of dirty water and told them to clean or change the existing galvanized iron (GI) pipes used in internal plumbing

systems. He also attributed the causes of dirty water to old asbestos cement (AC) pipes, problems resulting from repairs to pipe leaks/bursts, and shoddy work by housing developers' contractors. In short, he wants others to share the blame with Puas.

Over the years, I have written many articles to the media highlighting water woes in the Klang Valley particularly on the subject of dirty tap water. At the risk of being accused of repeating myself to attract publicity, I feel obligated, in the public interest, to refute some of Subramamiam's rather misleading statements that may be swallowed wholesale by the innocent public.

First and foremost, Subramaniam stated that for action to be taken, consumers should alert Puas if they receive dirty water from their taps. With so many complaints about dirty water in the newspapers and an increasingly rampant installation of domestic water filters in the Klang Valley, it is nave on the part of Puas to pretend that there is not much of a problem. One can only conclude that, like him, many senior Puas personnel are behaving like ostriches.

Subramaniam also contended that Puas has the means to flush the distribution systems to get rid of accumulated sediments in pipes. If so, why isn't Puas using this at least in areas that have been getting dirty water for years on end?

Systematic scouring of mains is part and parcel of routine maintenance work. But Puas cannot scour mains in a holistic way because it does not have up-to-date records of the pipe network, or adequate and properly designed scour valves to do the job. Therefore, Puas can at best carry out scouring on a limited scale using fire hydrants as scour valves.

No doubt old GI pipes need replacement due to encrustation of pipe walls, but houses in other states also use the same pipes in plumbing systems. One hardly hears of any complaint of dirty water. So why is dirty water prevalent only in the Klang Valley? My house is more than 30 years old and all the GI pipes used for internal plumbing were replaced only recently. While water flow has greatly improved, the quality of water coming out of my kitchen is still the same as before.

Old AC pipes, which are prone to leaking, were also blamed for the dirty water. Similarly these pipes have been used extensively elsewhere in Malaysia and in many other countries. Again, we only hear about dirty water in the Klang Valley.

The mere replacement of all AC pipes cannot be a cure. A holistic pipeline rehabilitation approach is required, starting with a plan to bring the water distribution networks to a steady state.

Puas has asked for RM1.2 billion for AC pipes replacement. Even if it gets the money, it still won't be able to proceed without updated records of the pipe network in the Klang Valley - a pre-requisite for any pipe rehabilitation/replacement programmes.

This lack of information on and understanding of the underground assets is not unexpected when Puas is still holding fast to its ingrained out-of-sight, out-of-mind philosophy on water distribution systems.

Subramaniam also attributed dirty water to pipe repairs not being properly executed - pipes uncapped on site and failure of developers to flush the mains before commissioning the new water reticulation systems. But this is Puas' jurisdiction.

It should have provided adequate site supervision to ensure that all works are carried out as specified. It would be a grave dereliction of duty by Puas if contractors or developers are allowed to do what they like and get away with substandard works. If such sub-standard work, approved or paid for by Puas, has subsequently caused the dirty water problems, then Puas must accept the blame.

It is unbelievable that only less than two percent of water samples collected in the Klang Valley for quality tests by the Health Ministry have breached standards.

Early this year, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, concerned over the poor water quality in the Klang Valley, said his ministry would begin laboratory tests on potable water. Recently, it was reported that the results of tests carried out by his ministry were found to be not satisfactory and that the quality of tap water is poor.

It is therefore important that water quality tests should be complemented by an independent body and that the tests results be made public. It is quite surprising that the results of tests carried out by Muhyiddin's ministry were not raised in Subramaniam's interview with the press.

The straw that broke the camel's back was Subramaniam's statement: "Boiling the water or filtering it may be more harmful as it removes the chlorine which protects the water from all sorts of harmful organisms".

Scientific studies have established that chlorine in water may react with other contaminants and cause the formation of carcinogenic substances such as trihalomethanes (THM), which are harmful to human body.

I do not know about the filter as I do not own one, but I do know that boiling of water will remove all residual chlorine and kill other bacteria, if any, present in water. It is hoped that his statement has been misquoted. But this is an important issue and surely any misquotation of this nature should not be allowed to remain uncorrected.

It is indeed sad that a senior officer of a water corporation supplying water to over four million residents appears to have so very little grasp of the subject on dirty tap water. It is no wonder that one Dr KH Sng of Kuala Lumpur had conjectured, in his letter to New Straits Times , on Nov 29, 2002 that the department (Puas) was run by a group of "incompetent nincompoops".

In my personal opinion, it is better for Subramaniam to open his mouth less and start doing something to improve the water supply.