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RAWANG: The Selangor government prevented freshwater disruptions by taking swift action against pollution in two cases that affected the Sungai Selangor and Sungai Langat river basins yesterday.
State Executive Councilor Hee Loy Sian said these two cases could have halted the operations of the water treatment plants if the Selangor Water Management Authority (LUAS) and other agencies had not acted quickly.
He said one of the incidents involved detecting odor contamination at Sungai Kundang, with a reading of the odor threshold number 10 (TON) at 10:45 a.m. yesterday morning.
LUAS officers went to the area and found biodiesel materials in the river, he said.
Additional investigations by LUAS and Air Selangor identified a company operating in the Kundang Jaya industrial zone as the possible source.
LUAS issued a warning letter under Section 121 (1) of the LUAS Act 1999 to the company to immediately stop the discharge of effluents and carry out clean-up activities.
He said LUAS used 300kg of activated carbon to contain odor contamination. Samples were also taken from three locations along the river and sent to the Chemistry Department for analysis and other actions.
Hee said the other incident involved a diesel oil spill at Tasik Putrajaya around 9.35am yesterday, after a pipeline from the slip tank burst under the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
The NCI immediately carried out cleanup work with the help of LUAS, Putrajaya Corporation (PPJ), and other agencies to prevent further damage.
He said the NCI had also installed oil pads and oil containment barriers along its drain systems to clean up the spill.
The diesel could have contaminated Sungai Langat and caused the water treatment plant 10km from Bukit Tampoi to stop operations, he said, adding that LUAS is monitoring the situation.
“These two incidents were dealt with immediately successfully by LUAS, Air Selangor, PPJ and other agencies.
“The water treatment plants continued to operate and there was no interruption in the supply of water to consumers.”
Earlier this week, odor pollution in Sungai Selangor forced the shutdown of four water treatment plants, affecting nearly 1,300 areas in the Klang Valley and cutting off supplies to 1.2 million households.
Police have opened an investigative document into the incident, with LUAS and the Department of the Environment assisting in the investigation. Water samples have also been submitted for analysis to determine the cause of contamination.
Police have detained eight people, including a director of a company that repairs and sells construction machinery in Rawang, for the contamination.
