SEREMBAN: Water supply to some 37,000 premises in Port Dickson and parts of the city here has been disrupted after the Sg Linggi treatment plant was forced to close temporarily due to odour pollution, says Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun.
The Mentri Besar said the authorities first received a report of a fuel-like odour in the river around 7.30pm on May 4 and a probe was immediately carried out.
"The authorities, including the Department of Environment, then carried out an operation around 9pm on the same day along Jalan Pantai to identify the source of the pollution.
"They believe that the odour was probably caused by fuel released from a lorry workshop along the stretch," he said in a statement.
Aminuddin said the authorities took samples from the premises as part of its probe.
He said the water treatment plant was temporarily closed around 9am on May 5 after tests showed that the threshold odour number (TON) reading had reached 11.
"The highest reading registered was 21TON around 10.30am on the same day," he said.
However, the reading began falling gradually and samples taken around 4.30am on Monday (May 6) showed that it had fallen to 2TON.
He said the treatment plant resumed operations around 1.30pm on May 6.
Aminuddin said state water concessionaire Syarikat Air Negri Sembilan had taken several initiatives to ensure the affected consumers received water supply.
These include providing 12 static tanks and deploying its fleet of trucks to provide supply to the affected areas.
"They also got lorries from elsewhere to transport water to the affected areas," he said, adding that the state government would take stern action against anyone responsible for polluting rivers.
"There will be no compromise," he said.
Aminuddin also appealed to the public to report such matters to the authorities.
