In 2006, the Department of Environment (DOE) registered 18,956 water pollution point sources comprising mainly sewage treatment plants (9,060: 47.79% inclusive of 601 Network Pump Stations), manufacturing industries (8,543 : 45.07%), animal farms (869 : 4.58%) and agro-based industries (484 : 2.55%).

The number of sewage treatment plants under the management of Indah Water Konsortium Sdn Bhd (IWK) had increased to 9,060 in 2006 compared to 8,782 plants in 2005. Selangor had the largest number of sewage treatment plants (2,563 : 28.3%), Perak (1,343 : 14.8%), Johor (1,010 : 11.1%) and Negeri Sembilan (928 : 10.2%) .

Looking at the statistics, sewage as a single unit pollutes the water source nearly 50 percent. The 2007 report is still not published by the DOE for public viewing. How are we going to justify such polluting acts?

Coliform and ammonia pollution causes water intake points to close down and may eventually cause other serious illnesses if direct water consumption is made. It is inevitable that humans will produce sewage and it also acknowledged that many countries have harvested sewage as a resource.

There are projects in India that focus on the extraction of methane gas from septic tanks which are then directed to houses for cooking purposes. Anaerobic digestion (fermentation) of sewage can change 75 percent of the Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) to methane collected through pipes. Through this, water contamination due to sewage can be reduced while another 25 per cent will be reduced during treatment in plants.

The 3.6 million inhabitants of Yokohama City produce a total of 16,000 cubic metres of sewage sludge daily. To enable the treatment to be better and more eco-friendly, its sewage treatment plant is converted into a power generator, where 70 percent of the methane gas extracted produces 30 million kilowatt hours of electricity that is used to power their treatment process. The balance 30 percent of methane is used to incinerate the waste that produces ashes which is then used for soil improvement and cement.

India being a poor country and Japan being a four seasons country can still achieve the best out of their sewage. Are we lacking in capability to do so?

Fomca would like to suggest that:

i A proper study to be undertaken on the operation of sewage industry in Malaysia. The root cause of its failure must be identified.

ii Tap available technology that uses sewage as a resource. With adaptability and suitability, such technology can also be developed here.

iii The Bukit Jelutong plant is supposed to perform the Yokohama type of operations mentioned above. There should be a report card on this plant and its performance.

iv Organic waste from solid waste must be included in sewege treatment. While it increases the BOD, it also increases the methane extraction. In the long run we will not need landfills as organic wastes are treated within the sewage system and the balance solid wastes are recyclable.

The waste of one industry is resource for another. Depletion of natural and renewable resources will eventually force Malaysia to venture into the proper utilisation of Renewable Energy (RE).

More RE technology savvy and technically-trained personnel are also needed in Malaysia in both the government and private sectors. Understanding technology is a priority for implementing it.

In addition to that, no matter what resource is discovered for energy utilisation, we must also adhere to energy efficiency. Support energy efficiency, switch off when you are not using and switch to energy efficient products.

The writer is programme manager, Environment Desk, Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association (Fomca).