Odour pollution: Three water treatment plants in Selangor at risk of shut down, says Hee

SHAH ALAM: The Selangor Water Management Board (LUAS) has received information about diesel-like odour pollution measuring up to three tons detected at the River Monitoring Station (RMS) in Section 3, Bangi, at 11.15am on Thursday (June 9).

State Tourism, Environment, Green Technology and Orang Asli Affairs Standing Committee chairman Hee Loy Sian in a statement on Thursday said the incident was reported by Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor).

Following that, he said a monitoring operation conducted by LUAS together with related agencies such as the National Water Commission (SPAN) and Air Selangor had investigated several locations to identify the source of pollution.

"LUAS has activated the Yellow Code based on the Water Resources Pollution Emergency Manual for a thorough investigation into the area upstream of the inlets, which is at risk of causing the shutdown of the Semenyih 2 Water Treatment Plant (LRA), Bukit Tampoi LRA and Labohan Dagang LRA.

"The estimated distance of the pollution location from the inlets, namely Semenyih 2 LRA is 6.63km; Bukit Tampoi LRA (18km) and Labohan Dagang LRA (31.9km)," he said.

He said several potential sources of pollution had been investigated by LUAS in Sungai Balak and odour test sampling recorded odours up to two tons, while in Sungai Sekamat and upstream of Sungai Langat, no pollution-related findings were detected, with the odour reading at zero tons.

He said as of 5pm, there was no more oil-like odour around Sungai Balak.

"Meanwhile, LUAS is also conducting static monitoring and sampling around the Kampung Teras Jernang Bridge with odour test sampling conducted every 30 minutes and readings obtained were around two tons, as of 9pm, there was no contamination at the LRA inlet area," he said.

Hee said LUAS and Air Selangor were still investigating the cause of the odour pollution and the frequency of LUAS’ odour sampling in Sungai Langat had also been increased from one hour to 30 minutes to closely monitor the status.

He said static monitoring and LUAS patrols in the Sungai Langat area were carried out round the clock to ensure such incidents did not recur and any pollution could be prevented before it entered the LRA system.

Apart from that, he said LUAS would intensify 24-hour monitoring operations at major river basins to ensure that pollution incidents did not affect LRA operations. - Bernama