CYBERJAYA: House owners need to maintain their septic tanks or risk being fined under a regulation that the water authority is considering to enforce.

The National Water Services Commission (SPAN) is conducting a study to implement the Septic Tank Treatment Regulations, following the public’s low awareness on the need of scheduled cleaning of their sewage tanks.

The focus of the study was on penalties, appointment of concessionaires or cleaning contractors and the fee charged for the service, said SPAN chief executive officer Datuk Mohd Ridhuan Ismail.

There are currently more than 1.3 million individual septic tanks serving 6.7 million residents in urban areas and housing estates nationwide.

Mohd Ridhuan said very few had their septic tanks cleaned at least once in three years.

The situation was aggravated after the septic tank cleaning service provided by Indah Water Konsortium Sdn Bhd was stopped on Jan 1, 2008.

“The Septic Tank Treatment Regulations have been around since 2010 but were not enforced because septic tanks are considered as individual or private property under the National Water Services Industry Act 2008, which allows premises owners to maintain their own sewage tanks.

Section 65(1)(c) of the Water Services Industry Act 2006 (Act 655) states that indivi­dual septic tank owners need to maintain the system, and failure to do so could result in fines of not more than RM50,000.

There is also a clause under the same Act and section stating that the owner of a dirty septic tank which becomes a nuisance or dangerous to health has committed an offence, and can be fined up to RM50,000 or jailed for up to six months, or both, upon conviction. — Bernama