His Majesty, according to the palace, also called for monitoring and enforcement to be increased to ensure that such incidences do not recur, Bernama reported.

He had expressed his sadness over the pollution of Sungai Gong, which caused more than a million individuals in the Klang Valley to experience water disruption, the national news agency reported.

“Al-Sultan Abdullah decreed for stern action and harsher punishment to be meted out to those involved (in polluting rivers).”

His Majesty, the palace said, lamented that such irresponsible actions were burdening the people.

The King’s comments on the incident comes in the wake of news that two factory workers have been remanded for six days to help in investigations into the pollution of Sungai Gong.

Sungai Gong is a tributary of Sungai Sembah, which flows into Sungai Selangor that supplies water to four treatment plants.

The plants had to be shut down when pollution was detected last Thursday.

On Sept 5, four factory managers, all brothers aged between 50 and 60, were remanded for six days over the same issue.

The shutdown of the four water treatment plants, namely Sungai Selangor water treatment plant phases 1, 2 and 3 and the Rantau Panjang water treatment plant, disrupted water supply to 1.2 million people.

The Selangor government said it would instruct the factory to vacate the land it occupied.