SHAH ALAM, Dec 2 — The Sungai Semenyih and Bukit Tampoi water treatment plants (LRA) temporarily shut operations due to odour pollution with a reading of up to four threshold odour number (TON) detected in Jenderam Hilir, Dengkil near here at 11 pm yesterday.
Selangor Tourism, Environment, Green Technology and Orang Asli Affairs Committee chairman Hee Loy Sian said the operations at the Semenyih LRA were stopped at 11.15 pm, whereas that at the Bukit Tampoi LRA was shut at 2 am today. However, both LRAs resumed operations at 1.30 am and 8 am respectively.
Earlier, Hee said the Lembaga Urus Air Selangor (LUAS) received information from the Selangor Department of Environment (DOE) regarding the foamy river pollution in Sungai Batang Benar, Negeri Sembilan which is suspected to be caused by the discharge from a factory in the nearby industrial area at 8 pm.
“An immediate investigation by LUAS found that at the location in the Sungai Batang Benar there was still a foamy substance and a soap-like smell. LUAS’s static monitoring downstream of Sungai Semenyih and Sungai Buah found normal conditions and no odour was detected, while odour sampling carried out by LUAS in Kampung Rinching Hilir, Sungai Semenyih also recorded a reading of zero TON,” he said in a statement.
However, Hee said that based on information from Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor) odour pollution of up to four TON was detected in Jenderam Hilir at 11 pm.
“Following this, the Semenyih and Bukit Tampoi LRA operations were closed temporarily at 11.15 pm (yesterday) and 2 am (early today),” he said.
Hee said the LUAS static monitoring from a distance of 1.5 kilometres from the mouth of Jenderam Hilir was increased to every 30 minutes to closely monitor the status of the odour pollution and zero TON readings were recorded consistently with a decreasing odour pollution trend at the mouth recorded from 12.30 am.
“Both LRAs resumed operations after the odour pollution recorded zero TON consistently with three samplings. Air Selangor said that the water supply disruption was minimal and fully restored at 9.30 am,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hee said the release of the foam in Sungai Batang Benar, Negeri Sembilan is believed to have occurred early yesterday evening during heavy rain.
“LUAS has contacted the Selangor DOE for further investigation by the Negeri Sembilan DOE as the location of the incident was outside the state and involved an industrial area,” he said.
Meanwhile, Hee said the state government will not compromise with those who commit crimes of water pollution and that strict action will be taken in line with the provisions of the LUAS Enactment 1999.
“The Selangor government and LUAS urge everyone to be concerned about activities that have the potential to contribute to pollution of especially the state’s water resources, and to report any suspicious activity to LUAS for immediate action to be taken,” he added.
