‘Water still polluted’
> Traces of 4-Bromo Diphenyl Ether keep being detected: Wong
SHAH ALAM: Contaminated water still flows into Selangor from Negri Sembilan, even after 10 days of the Sungai Semenyih water treatment plant being shut down due to pollution.
State executive councillor for environment Elizabeth Wong (pix) (PKR-Bukit Lanjan) said traces of the chemical 4-Bromo Diphenyl Ether can still be detected by monitoring teams.
“As of this morning, personnel stationed at the site could still detect foul odour and traces of the chemical,” Wong said yesterday. She attributed this to the source of the contamination not being cleaned up and reliance on temporary measures to stop polluted water from entering the state. The source of the contamination was identified near Km45.9 of the Elite highway in Nilai, which was washed into Sungai Buah, one of the rivers whose water flows into the Sungai Semenyih water treatment plant. Wong alleged that Negri Sembilan authorities were not cooperative and told Selangor to manage the pollution. She said officers from Selangor’s Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID), Public Works Department (PWD) and other agencies had built four bunds as an ad-hoc measure to minimise pollution at Sungai Buah.
“This system was designed by a DID officer at the operations centre on site and built by the PWD. We wouldn’t have been able to resume water supply otherwise,” Wong said. She stated that 20 tonnes of activated carbon had so far been used for water treatment on site which is not sustainable.
Wong commended the high level of cooperation by the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry (NRE), with its deputy minister, Datuk Hamim Samuri, going on site to survey the contamination himself.
She said the NRE agreed that there were signs of sabotage from the latest incident and urged the police to investigate.
Wong said, however, the same cannot be said for Urban Wellbeing, Housing, and Local Government Minister Tan Sri Noh Omar, who recently suggested that the Selangor government itself sabotaged its water sources to gain public sympathy.