CYBERJAYA, Nov 12 — The National Water Services Commission (SPAN) has denied allegation of being slow to take action over the discovery of foreign effluent in the Taman Velox sewage treatment plant (LRK) in Rawang, Selangor on November 4.
SPAN, in defending against the allegation levelled against it and Indah Water Konsortium (IWK) Sdn Bhd, 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 (LRAs) on Tuesday (November 10), which then resulted in an unscheduled water supply disruption in the Klang Valley.
SPAN said it had directed the IWK to stop operations at the LRK on November 5 and also ordered that no effluent be discharged into Sungai Gong.
“IWK, with the help of SPAN, also carried out investigation over 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.
The IWK, he said, also issued a notice to the local authority and Selangor’s Department of Environment (JAS) on November 4 to inform them of the effluent pollution situation at the Taman Velox LRK, apart from lodging a police report on November 5 so that a detailed investigation could be carried out.
SPAN said this as response to an allegation by Selangor state executive councillor Hee Loy Sian at the Selangor State Legislative Assembly yesterday, when he linked the odour pollution which caused the closure of the four LRAs to the delayed reactions of IWK and SPAN.
On the odour pollution in Sungai Selangor which caused the unscheduled water supply disruption, SPAN said it was detected by the Selangor Water Management Authority (LUAS) enforcement team at about 12.20pm 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 LRAs resumed operation 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 LRAs 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.
Secretary-general of the Ministry of Environment and Water Datuk Seri Ir Dr Zaini Ujang was reported to have said that the water pollutant was believed to have come from the small and medium industry area in Taman Velox Rawang. — Bernama
