CYBERJAYA – The National Water Services Commission (SPAN) has denied allegations of being slow to act over the discovery of foreign effluent in the Taman Velox sewage treatment plant in Rawang, Selangor on November 4.
Defending against the allegation levelled against it and Indah Water Konsortium (IWK) Sdn Bhd, SPAN said in a statement today that the foreign effluent detected was not the source of pollution that caused the closure of four water treatment plants on Tuesday, which then resulted in an unscheduled water supply disruption in the Klang Valley.
SPAN said it had directed IWK to stop operations at the plant on November 5 and also ordered that no effluent be discharged into Sg Gong.
"IWK, with the help of SPAN, also carried out investigations into the source of pollution at nearby industrial premises, and effluent waste from two companies was taken for sampling purposes on the same day,” he said.
IWK, he said, also issued a notice to the local authority and Selangor's Environment Department on November 4 to inform them of the effluent pollution situation at the Taman Velox plant, apart from lodging a police report on November 5 so that a detailed investigation could be carried out.
SPAN said this in response to an allegation by Selangor state executive councillor Hee Loy Sian at the Selangor state assembly yesterday, when he linked the odour pollution to the delayed reactions of IWK and SPAN.
SPAN said the odour pollution in Sg Selangor was detected by the Selangor Water Management Authority enforcement team at about 12.20 pm on Tuesday. Following that, all relevant enforcement agencies, including SPAN, went down to the ground to find the cause of the pollution.
“The integrated action, involving various agencies, paid off when the premises suspected to be the source of the pollution was found on the same night and all four water treatment plants resumed operations less than 15 hours after they were halted,” he said.
On Tuesday, Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor) announced that operations at the Rantau Panjang and Sungai Selangor Phase (SSP) 1, 2 and 3 water treatment plants had to be suspended due to pollution of raw water sources, causing unscheduled water supply disruptions affecting 1,139,008 account holders in the Klang Valley.
Environment Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Ir Dr Zaini Ujang was reported to have said that the pollutant was believed to have come from the small and medium industry area in Taman Velox Rawang. – Bernama, November 12, 2020
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