Amirudin said this will be done through an amendment to the Selangor Water Management Authority (LUAS) Enactment 1999 in the coming Selangor state assembly sitting in October.

“The state government, through LUAS and its board members, wants to improve this enactment.

“Under the enactment, the fine for environmental pollution is RM500,000 and we want to increase this to RM1 million,” he told a media conference at Air Selangor’s headquarters.

Amirudin said the state government has studied all aspects of the proposed amendments and it hopes that the environment and water ministry would also strengthen federal laws to enable the imposition of higher fines.

This comes after the pollution of Sungai Selangor by a factory forced the shutdown of four water treatment plants, disrupting supply to 1.2 million people in the Klang Valley.

The water pollution was detected in Sungai Gong, Rawang, which flows into Sungai Sembah and enters Sungai Selangor, which feeds treatment plants.

Earlier, Air Selangor said it had resumed water supply to affected users at noon today, with more than 50% of the affected areas expected to receive water supply over the next two days.

The affected areas are Petaling, Klang, Gombak, Kuala Lumpur, Hulu Selangor, Kuala Langat and Kuala Selangor.

Four brothers who own the factory have been arrested over the incident and the factory has been sealed. The Selangor government has also instructed that the land occupied by the factory be vacated and building structures demolished.