An environmental group today refuted the claim that Selangor would face a water shortage in a few years to come if the government did not embark on the construction of the Kelau Dam now.

Save Our Sungai (SOS) Selangor said there is no need for the dam We have plenty of water. The recurring water crises are result of the mismanagement of our water supply system, said SOS Selangor co-ordinator Sam Hui in a faxed statement today

More than one-third of the water supply in Selangor and the Federal Territory is actually wasted through leakage, he added.

According to the published figures (as opposed to hearsay), the level of leakage was 36 percent in 1997/1998, he said.

Last Friday, The Star reported Works Minister S Samy Vellu as saying that five non-governmental organisations are the stumbling block to governments efforts to channel water from Pahang to Selangor.

The minister said none of the NGOs supported the project because they believe the environment would be affected by the construction of two dams.

Since there will be no backing from NGOs who are strongly against the building of the dams, there will be no more water in Selangor in about three to four years, Samy summed it up.

The NGOs backing is a condition put by the Japanese government for extending a RM3.8 billion loan sought by Malaysia for the project.

The project has been openly opposed by World Wildlife Fund Malaysia, Sahabat Alam Malaysia, Consumers Association of Penang and SOS Selangor.

The proposed project also involves the building of a 37.5km tunnel cutting across the Main Range to channel water from Sungai Telemong in Pahang to rivers in Selangor, including Sungai Gombak which supplies water to the Klang Valley, Ulu Langat and Semenyih dams.

Besides one at Sungai Kelau, another dam at Sungai Telemong would have to be constructed. Both are tributaries of Sungai Semantan in Bentong, Pahang.

High cost

Explaining SOS Selangors objection to the dam, Hui said there is also the environmental cost to be considered as the entire river is affected when a dam is constructed.

Fish throughout the river are affected. Fertile coastal regions are affected. Coastal erosion is heightened. The animals in the inundation area are affected.

Dams are considered largely responsible for the extinction of 20 percent of the worlds freshwater fish over the last century, he revealed.

Only nuclear power plants have a longer lasting impact upon the environment, he added.

Further, while it is common to estimate the cost of the water transfer project according to RM3.8 billion loan sought by the government, this sum is actually a small fraction of the total economical, social and environmental cost involved, Hui said.

He said the building of a dam comes with a high social cost when it affects those who live near the river, especially the indigenous communities.

To our understanding, there is not a project in the peninsula where the Orang Asli have benefitted from relocation, Hui argued.

Villages and communities have had their social fabric torn, seen alcoholism and poverty increase and their ancestral land stolen, usually without any compensation.

Hui said in the case of the Kelau Dam, a large number of Felda settlers will have to be relocated.