Waste and organic compounds found

NILAI: Authorities have found waste as well as organic compounds dumped in a bush near the Nilai Industrial Area which they believe led to the pollution of two rivers and caused water cuts in neighbouring Selangor.

The odour from the dumped waste was similar to that detected near the Sungai Semenyih water treatment plant and which led to its temporary closure.

The Environment and Water Ministry in a statement said it had reasons to believe the illegal dumping was the work of an unlicensed company or companies.

“The police, the National Water Service Commission and Department of Environment (DOE) will probe this and refer to the discovery as their secondary source, ” the ministry said.

However, the statement did not stipulate the type of waste which was found dumped in the area.

Several high-ranking officials, including those from the ministry, the commission, the DOE, the Negri Sembilan Water Regulatory Authority, Syarikat Air Selangor and the police were involved in the operation.

The ministry said state DOE personnel took six samples from the site which were sent to the Chemistry Department for analysis.

Toxic site: Plastic waste and organic compounds can be seen floating on Sungai Batang Benar in Nilai. — Bernama

“The Seremban City Council and the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation or SWCorp will conduct a clean-up exercise in the area, ” it said, adding that the area had also been cordoned off.

The ministry said Air Selangor was unable to resume supply to the affected areas as the odour along the water intake points was still strong.

At the time the statement was released, the odour reading was between seven and eight TON (threshold odour number).

“Operations should resume once the reading goes down to zero, ” it said.

State Environment, Health, Cooperatives and Consumerism Committee chairman S. Veerapan said the authorities also took samples from a goose farm in Kg Hulu Pajam.

“Our findings revealed the farm has been operating illegally over the past four years.

“The samples have also been sent for analysis, ” he said in a statement.

He said the state government would help coordinate the logistics to transport the waste from the area.

The Sungai Semenyih and Bukit Tampoi water treatment plants had to completely stop operating on Sunday after pollution was detected in Sungai Semenyih, which is the raw water source for both facilities.

This happened just one month after the odour pollution in Sungai Gong which led to water disruption that affected 1,292 areas in the Klang Valley and nearly 1.2 million consumer accounts.