‘16 cases of water pollution’
SELANGOR: Caused closure of water treatment plants, says exco member
SIXTEEN cases of water pollution had been recorded in Selangor, coupled with closure of water treatment plants and disruptions to consumers, up to last Sunday.
State Exco for Tourism, Consumer Affairs and Environment Elizabeth Wong (PKR-Bukit Lanjan) said from January to February this year, seven cases occurred in Hulu Langat, of which two cases of odour pollution were identified to have originated from the Sungai Semantan intake in Pahang.
Another four cases were attributed to ammonia release at the Langat sewage treatment plant and another case was due to manganese pollution.
The situation involving both cases was compounded by extremely low river water level.
“From September to October, eight cases also occurred in the Hulu Langat district, with four originating from an illegal premises in Kampung Sungai Lalang in Semenyih.
Four more cases of pollution took place within the same period. Two were identified from the intake of Sungai Semantan at the Pahang-Selangor boundary and two from Nilai in Negri Sembilan, she said.
“In the latest case on Sunday morning, there was a spillage of oil palm in front of the Sepang district police headquarters which affected the Labu water treatment plant.”
However, it was closed for only two to three hours to enable cleaning works, Wong told the state legislative assembly at its sitting yesterday.
She explained that the shutdown was not for long as water was drawn from the Off River Storage (ORS) system in Labu.
Wong was replying to a question from Datuk Johan Abdul Aziz (Barisan Nasional-Semenyih) who had asked on the number of water disruptions that had occurred due to pollution of rivers this year in the state.
To a supplementary question from Ng Suee Lim (DAP-Sekinchan), Wong said based on the report received from Air Selangor, it was an accident which had caused the spillage of oil palm but added that it was “strange” that it occurred exactly at the top of the river mouth.
Ng had asked if the cause of Sunday’s case had been identified to be an accident or a “pure coincidence”.
To another supplementary question from Dr Idris Ahmad (PKRIjok) who asked whether the state government would create a mechanism to avert pollution, such as rewarding the public for informing water authorities on acts of pollution, Wong replied that the state did not have a reward system.
“However, this is a good idea because the public can inform the authorities if they detect odour in the water or come across an act of pollution,” she said.