BY: AFIX REDZUAN
DENGKIL, OCT 24: Dato’ Menteri Besar, Dato’ Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali stressed that the Selangor and Negeri Sembilan Environmental Departments as well as federal agencies must strengthen cooperation to haul water polluters to justice.
Although disappointed with the repeated water pollution, he repeated that the source of pollution did not originate from Selangor but at Hulu Sungai Buah in Negeri Sembilan.
“The source of pollution is in Negeri Sembilan, not Selangor. Hulu Sungai Buah is in Negeri Sembilan.
“Buah River flows into Semenyih River causing disruptions at the Semenyih River Water Treatment Plant, forcing us to shut it down,” he told the media after visiting efforts by Selangor Waters Management Authority (LUAS) and Air Selangor to pump out the polluted water at Kampung Sungai Buah.
Investigations by LUAS and Air Selangor teams located the source of the odour at around 1:50 pm near the northbound Nilai R&R.
The source of the strong ‘solvent’ odour was found at the Buah River along the KM45.9 of Elite Highway at around 6:10 pm.
The highest reading of 22 ton was detected at Memorial Park, Nilai.
He said that the lateness of the Negeri Sembilan Environmental Department in collecting information although being informed by the Selangor Environmental Department the day before was a disappointment.
“The state government is ready to cooperate with departments and agencies, including the Negeri Sembilan Environmental Department, Selangor Environmental Department and SPAN, and we hope that it will improve.
“This is not a blame game. We are not blaming any party but we want effective coordination so that those responsible for the pollution will be punished severely,” he said.
Mohamed Azmin said the state government has already taken action within its jurisdiction and hoped that the Environmental Department would forward a full report including the evidence to the Attorney General’s Chambers to press charges.
The pumping of polluted water in Buah River is ongoing and three machines will arrive to speed up the process.
Meanwhile, the Semenyih River Water Treatment Plant has returned to normal operations at 5:00 am after being shut down at 7:30 pm the day, enabling 1.8 million users to enjoy normal water supply in stages.
MB: Haul water polluters to justice
