Public can help stop the despicable act of illegal dumping

I REFER to the report “Holes in sewerage network” in The Star yesterday (online at bit.ly/star_ holes).

Dumping scheduled waste into sewerage manholes is an extremely despicable act. I believe this has been going on for quite a while.

In most cases, the waste would flow directly to IWK (Indah Water Konsortium) treatment facilities. But in the recent incident, the route must have been different somehow, resulting in odour pollution.

It is not only scheduled wastes that are dumped into manholes. Sewerage contractors have been photographed dumping sewerage directly into IWK manholes to avoid paying treatment costs.

Some contractors even dump sewerage into household sewerage manholes. Some take the easier route by discharging sewerage directly into rivers, as in the case of the pollution of Sungai Kayu Ara in Petaling Jaya that was reported on July 15 this year.

While the authorities need to be vigilant against such unscrupulous acts, curbing these despicable acts is also the responsibility of the public. The public should do their part by taking photographs or videos of such acts and reporting them to the authorities.

The suggestion by IWK that it will seal manholes at its treatment plant in Bandar Bukit Mahkota in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, to prevent illegal dumping is commendable.

However, knowing that contractors have dumped sewerage into IWK manholes elsewhere, perhaps IWK should seal off all their manholes in Selangor and, if feasible, nationwide.

WONG SOO KAN Petaling Jaya