GEORGE TOWN, Feb 10 — While the authorities are scrambling to identify the party responsible for polluting the Batu Ferringhi beach, residents from a nearby apartment building claim the murky water may actually be discharged from there.

Freelance realtor M. Annamalai, 40, alleged yesterday that the refusal of the Reef Apartment management to install a pump to discard faeces and solid waste may have resulted in the water flowing directly to the beach.

“The management is supposed to install the pump valve that would carry the waste to the Indah Water Konsortium (IWK) tank,” he told reporters in Batu Ferringhi.

“However, I recently found out there is no such pump installed in our tanks.”

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Annamalai, who has been staying at the 16-storey apartment for 18 years, said he contacted former building manager Peter Toh to confirm the matter.

“I tried to seek clarification from the management on Saturday morning but instead, I was threatened by some of the committee members,” he said, adding that he has lodged a police report.

Annamalai claimed other residents have also lodged complaints with the Penang Island Municipal Council.

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Toh, 73, who worked at the apartment building for more than a year, said he found out about two years ago that water containing faeces and waste was discharged into the drains that later flowed into the sea.

“The water would be discharged every 30 minutes,” he said.

“Upon reading reports that there were traces of E. coli in the waters in Batu Ferringhi recently, I decided to alert the authorities and also lodged a police report on Saturday.”

The apartment building, consisting of 200 units, is located about 4km from the polluted beach.

Photographers who visited the apartment yesterday were ordered out by the management committee members, who called the police to get them to leave.

Three police officers from the Batu Feringghi police station were at the apartment.