PUTRAJAYA — New water treatment plants will be built in Johor to ensure that it does not have to rely on treated water from Singapore by 2022, according to a report by Malaysian news agency Bernama on Monday (Aug 19).
Dr Xavier Jayakumar, Malaysia's Minister of Water, Land and Natural Resources, said the state’s capacity of treated water must reach 260 million litres daily, which he understood will be accomplished by 2022.
"We have to make sure that Johor has sufficient treated water and does not need to get it from Singapore. Which is why we have to provide new water treatment plants in Johor,” said Dr Xavier.
He added that the efforts to increase Johor's treated water supply would not impact Singapore and Malaysia's ongoing water talks, and that the current agreement still stands.
Under the 1962 agreement which lapses in 2061, Singapore has the right to buy 250 million gallons of water a day from Johor, at 3 sen for every 1,000 gallons.
In return, Johor is entitled to buy back a daily supply of treated water from Singapore at 50 sen for every 1,000 gallons.
Dr Xavier said that his ministry and Johor's government had also agreed on steps to tackle the state's river pollution by managing sewage waste more efficiently.
“Both parties also agreed on forest management, especially involving the conservation of forest reserve areas as a national heritage,” Dr Xavier said, adding that they also agreed to set up a trust account for operations to save wild elephants. AGENCIES
Read more at https://www.todayonline.com/world/2...ly-treated-water-singapore-malaysian-minister
