IWK not responsible for ‘black water’ in Sungai Gong

KUALA LUMPUR: Indah Water Consortium Sdn Bhd (IWK) yesterday said the incident of the water in Sungai Gong in Rawang turning black was not due to effluent discharge from the Rawang Integrated Industrial Park sewage treatment plant as reported by the media on Saturday.

IWK chief executive officer Narendran Maniam said the company has identified the presence of non-sewage waste in the plant intake chamber.

“Our staff at the plant are monitoring and controlling the sewage intake. We suspect illegal waste dumping had occurred near our plant, that caused the substance to flow into the plant.

“We have immediately stopped effluent discharge and started a cleaning operation. Chemical dosing is being carried out to control the situation,“he said in a statement yesterday.

On Saturday, it was reported that the Selangor Water Management Board (Luas) received a report that the water in Sungai Gong had turned black but was odourless, and was suspected to have been caused by dyes.

Luas workers found foamy effluent discharge from area near the plant.

Narendran said the matter could confuse the public and may prompt people to accuse IWK of polluting the river, although the source might have been caused by illegal dumping of waste.

“We are very disappointed for being frequently targeted over any water pollution incident such as this one, without detailed inspections or information,“he said, adding that the plant was designed to treat sewage and is unable to deal with chemical or other forms of waste.

He added that illegal dumping of nonsewage waste is an offence under the Water Services Industry Act 2006. – Bernama