KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 5 — National Water Services Commission (SPAN) has suggested it is considering increasing penalty for unethical companies found polluting the country’s water supply up to RM6 million.

In an interview with state broadcaster RTM, its director of corporate communications and consumer affairs Mohd Fazli Ismail said the current RM500,000 penalty may be too low for some companies that make hundreds of millions in revenues.

"The increment of punishment that probably worth RM5 million to RM6 million will cause the industry to be more careful to avoid bearing the cost of the penalty,” he said in the Bicara Pengguna show tonight.

He also said that SPAN will take a "holistic approach” in punishing the company owners that are involved in pollution, including by blacklisting them for a certain period of time.

Recently water disruptions in four areas in Klang Valley due to odour pollution in Sungai Semenyih and Bukit Tampoi water treatment plants causing 309,687 consumer accounts in the Petaling, Hulu Langat, Kuala Langat and Sepang districts suffered unscheduled water supply disruptions.

The Ministry of Environment and Water, in a statement today, announced that a shrubby area in Jalan Emas, on the fringe of the Nilai Industrial Area, here, had been identified as the main location of the wastes.