Background

Following the existence of the Federal Territories, Jabatan Parit dan Tali air (JPT) Wilayah Persekutuan was established on 1 January 1978 to take over the functions of Drainage and Irrigation in the Federal Territory that were previously carried out by the Jabatan Parit dan Tali air (JPT) Selangor State.

the main activities of the JPT Wilayah Persekutuan are urban drainage, river conservancy, hydrology flood mitigation and flood forecasting. The main functions:

1. investigation and implementation of river improvements and trunk drainage systems

2. inspection, processing and provision of advice on land development, mining and other matters

3. provision of technical advice on all matters relating to the water’s enactment

4. examination and advice on works and proposals effecting rivers and trunk drainage systems

5. flood forecasting and flood warning

6. hydrological data collection

The development works undertaken by the JPT Wilayah Persekutuan are urban drainage improvement works which are mainly the improvement of rivers and trunk drainage systems. These form an integral part of the overall Kuala Lumpur flood mitigation project, of which the major components, i.e construction of dams and widening and deepening of the three main rivers, namely the sungai klang, sungai batu and sungai gombak are being undertaken by the Jabatan Parit Dan Tali air Federal Headquarters.

The main objective of the JPT Wilayah Persekutuan is to alleviate stormwater flooding and to prevent any future occurrences of stormwater flooding caused by the development.

Further collaboration of the functions of the department is as follows:

i)within the activity of investigation and implementation of river improvements and trunk drainage improvements. the data obtained are then submitted to the design and planning branch of the Federal Headquarters for preparations of the detailed design and working plans. The JPT Wilayah Persekutuan will then implement the project including preparation and calling of tenders and supervision of the Third Malaysia Plan and 1973 programme will be presented in the subsequent sections.

ii)In the inspection, processing and provision of advice on land development, mining and other matters, the activities of the department are as follows;

1.  in the case of development e g. housing development, this department advises city hall on the drainage layout of the proposed trunk drains, the adequacy of the drainage system into the overall drainage system of the particular catchment.
   
   

2. in the case of mining, applications for new mining leases and renewals are referred to this department by the director of lands and mines. as most mining activities are carried out near rivers it is important to ensure that the activities will not have any adverse effect on the rivers. To this end, the department will advise on the reserve required for the rivers, the limit to which mining activity may approach the river, the permissible height of bunds and proposed river deviations.

iii) This department also advises the authorities on the technical aspects of matters relating to the Waters Enactment and this will include project in the vicinity of rivers, projects which discharge effluent into river and construction of permanent structures near rivers.

In 1989, Jabatan Parit dan Tali air (JPT) officially changed its name to the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) to reflect additional duties and responsibilities such as the management of the country's water resources. On 1 November 1992, the Jabatan Parit dan Tali air (JPT) Wilayah Persekutuan was also upgraded to the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur / Flood Mitigation Plan (RTB) Lembah sg. Klang

However, in 2004 the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) changed ministries from the Ministry of Agriculture to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. In 2018, changed to the Ministry of Water, Land & Natural Resources (KATS). In 2020, changed to the Ministry of Environment & Water (KASA) then in 2022 to the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change (NRECC) until now.