Study to be conducted to find out source of Sungai Rui pollution, says Jayakumar
LENGGONG: The Mineral and Geoscience Department and the National Water Services Commission (SPAN) will conduct a study to identify the sources of pollution in Sungai Rui, Gerik.
Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Dr A. Xavier Jayakumar said the department had set up a task force to identify solutions to the water pollution by regularly sampling water at predetermined locations.
He said the department would provide the locations and mapping data on mining, logging, agriculture, industrial activities, as well as Perak Water Board water treatment plants and water wells in Hulu Perak.
“The results will be known at least a week after the completion of the study.
“We do not want to point fingers at any party without identifying the causes of the pollution.”
Jayakumar said this after visiting a eucalyptus farm in Bukit Sapi, here with Forestry Department director-general Datuk Akhirrudin Mahmud and foreign envoys.
Jayakumar said the river was a raw water source for the Air Ganda water treatment plant, which supplies water to 1,000 villages with a capacity of 0.68 million litres per day.
He said Klian Intan in Hulu Perak had been identified as an area rich in minerals, such as tin and sulfide minerals, such as arsenopyrite and pyrite, and any mining or land clearing could lead to a natural acidic reaction, which, in turn, releases heavy metals, such as arsenic, iron, lead, zinc and nickel into the water.
On Thursday, Perak Education, Technology, Science and Environmental Committee chairman Dr Abdul Aziz Bari said based on recent tests by the department, Sungai Rui’s pollution was believed to be due to high arsenic content.