Nabbing pollution culprits via accounts

PETALING JAYA: Accountants should be brought in to trace factories that are dumping toxic waste into rivers.

Kelana Jaya MP Wong Chen said this could be a way to find the culprits behind the incidences which shut down the Sungai Semenyih water treatment plant numerous times in the past month.

“The obvious solution is to track records of industrial waste output of each factory and counter check with their disposal costs.

“If a factory is found to have slashed spending substantially on disposal of industrial waste in the last year, then we can assume they are engaging in illegal dumping.

“A major discrepancy in the accounts should be a basis for a full investigation and raid by enforcement officers,” Wong said in a statement on Facebook yesterday.

He added that the state government should also set up a benchmark in annual waste output for each industry so any unusual amounts would be detected.

This may be more effective than sending more patrols to rivers, he said, adding that heads must roll for the recent disruptions affecting more than a million consumers in Selangor.

Wong also urged the state government to improve its emergency water delivery system so that it will be able to deliver in greater quantities, more regularly, and in a more timely manner. – by Lee Choon Fai