“There are approximately 1.3 million premises in Malaysia using septic tanks. Of this number, 90% do not conduct regular desludging work. This could result in pollution of our water sources.

“Maintenance or scheduled desludging is important to prevent the communities from being exposed to water-borne diseases, such as cholera and hepatitis, just to name a few,” the ministry said in a statement today.

It added that the new regulation was implemented in accordance with the Water Services Industry Act (Desludging Services) 2021, which had taken effect on March 30.

“Therefore, all owners, management corporations or occupants of any premises connected to a septic tank or have a septic tank must perform desludging on a scheduled basis,” it said, adding that the scheduled desludging work would be carried out by lndah Water Konsortium (IWK) Sdn Bhd.

To ensure the new regulation could be implemented effectively, a notice to perform desludging work would be issued in stages to the owners of premises beginning June 1.

For septic tanks within the operating area of the local authorities, desludging is scheduled to be done once every two years. For septic tanks located outside the boundaries of any local authority, the desludging is scheduled to be done once every three years.

“Owners of septic tanks can also obtain responsive desludging services from IWK, which is outside of the scheduled period, if the septic tank requires desludging sooner than the original scheduled date,” it added.