Possible sabotage at Indah Water plant, says exco

KUALA LUMPUR – Selangor exco Hee Loy Sian told the state assembly that the government suspects sabotage in the latest water pollution incident.

The Kajang assemblyman’s claim of sabotage came after Elizabeth Wong (Bukit Lanjan-PH) repeatedly slammed the table demanding answers over today’s water pollution incident. 

He said the pollution occurred some time between 7am and 10am, after the assembly yesterday passed several amendments to the Selangor Water Management Authority (Luas) Enactment 1999.

“We have discovered that the pollutant was coming from an Indah Water plant in Taman Velox, Rawang (located) just after the Sg Gong (reservoir). Some kind of oil or solvent was poured there,” said Hee, who is in charge of Environment, Green Technology and Consumer Affairs, Science, Technology and Innovation.

#INFO | Dewan Negeri Selangor | Pencemaran Air terbaharu: LRA Sg Selangor Fasa 1, Fasa 2, Fasa 3 & Rantau Panjang

"Kita syak ada berlaku sabotaj." pic.twitter.com/SifbSF6naa

— Media Selangor (@Media_Selangor) November 10, 2020

Wong interjected: “So, it appears that just this morning, someone purposely dumped a chemical solvent in the Indah Water plant there? A day after we amended Luas’ (Selangor Water Management Authority) enactment?

“For your information, at 4am, Luas detected 0 TON (threshold odour number) and at the same time, Air Selangor also detected a similar result in Sg Gong," replied Hee.

“At 7AM, 0 TON was detected in Sg Sembah – where all nearby waters will end up. The pollution happened between 7am and 10am. We suspect this is sabotage.

“We will lodge a police report to find who is behind it. I think I have answered everything. This is the initial information I have. This is it for now, so we relax a bit for now.”

Three of the four Selangor water treatment plants have recorded an odour pollution level of 4 TON while Rantau Panjang is still at 8 TON.

Less than a month ago, more than one million residents in the Klang Valley went without water for several days.

The 1,279 affected areas are in the districts of Kuala Lumpur, Petaling, Klang, Shah Alam, Kuala Selangor, Hulu Selangor, Gombak and Kuala Langat. 

PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil said in a statement that the party’s political bureau will meet tomorrow to discuss the water cut and demand a full report on the issue.

“PKR views the issue of repeated water supply disruptions seriously. The state government and agencies concerned must immediately resolve the problem.” – The Vibes, November 10, 2020