SHAH ALAM – A scheduled waste disposal in Taman Velox, Rawang, is suspected to be the cause of the Sg Selangor pollution which caused the operations of the Sungai Selangor Phase (SSP) 1, 2, and 3 and Rantau Panjang water treatment plants to be suspended.
State Tourism, Environment, Green Technology and Orang Asli Affairs Committee chairman Hee Loy Sian said an integrated raid was carried out by the police, Selangor Water Management Board (Luas) and the Environment Department on the premises, located about 700m from Sg Gong, yesterday.
“As a result of the raid, we found the hose believed to be used to dump the scheduled waste into the toilet. Police have also identified the owner of the premises,” he said at the Selangor state assembly sitting here today.
Hee said this in reply to R. Rajiv (PH-Bukit Gasing) who wanted to know the status of water pollution investigations in Sg Selangor yesterday.
Hee said the premises was also suspected to have dumped scheduled waste, which had forced the Indah Water Konsortium (IWK) Sdn Bhd sewage treatment plant to suspend operations onm November 4 after receiving reddish waste.
According to Hee, IWK only notified the National Water Service Commission (SPAN) of the situation and not the state government.
“IWK also lodged a police report on the matter, while SPAN decided to remove the waste manually using lorries to another location and shut down the plant.
“Luas and Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor) were not informed about this. If we had known about this, we could have taken appropriate action sooner,” he said.
Hee said the incident was the fourth brought up by IWK this yearm and they should have been more responsible in managing their sewage treatment plants.
“This is the fourth time it has occurred...twice in Bukit Mahkota, Semenyih, once in Batang Kali, Hulu Selangor, and now in Rawang,” he said.
According to Hee, the state government had lodged a police report on the incident and will bring anyone involved in causing water pollution in the state to justice in accordance with the Luas Enactment 1999.
Yesterday, Air Selangor announced that operations at the Rantau Panjang and SSP water treatment plants had to be suspended due to pollution of raw water sources.
The disruption affected 1,139,008 account holders in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling, Klang, Shah Alam, Kuala Selangor, Gombak, and Kuala Langat.
Environment Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Ir Dr Zaini Ujang was reported as saying that the water pollutant was believed to have come from the small and medium industry area in Taman Velox Rawang. – Bernama, November 11, 2020
