SHAH ALAM, Oct 14 — The swift action taken by the Selangor Management Water Authority (Luas) prevented the suspension of the main water treatment plant (WTP) after contamination was detected at Sungai Gong in Rawang.
The contamination, detected yesterday’s morning, occurred due to a fire incident involving a plastic factory at Sungai Bakau, said state executive councillor for environment Hee Loy Sian,
He said water from the fire extinguisher streamed into the nearby drain, and subsequently flowed to Sungai Gong.
“Luas has activated code yellow in accordance with the Water Resource Pollution Emergency Manual for more comprehensive investigation, which would have caused the suspension of Rantau Panjang WTP.
“The distance from the fire location to the Rantau Panjang WTP is around 13 kilometres, and the pollution might take up to nine hours to reach the area,” Hee said in a statement.
Following the incident, the exco added that Luas has placed seven activated carbon powder bags at the waterway heading up to Sungai Bakau, as a measure to curb pollution.
The agency also activated water pumping from the ponds in Bestari Jaya and HORAS 600, with a capacity of 1,070 million litres per day to increase the river’s dilution factor.
“Other mitigation actions, close monitoring, and static monitoring at Sungai Sembah have also been carried out by Luas.
“As of 9.30pm yesterday, the odour reading at the WTP is 0 ton and there is no disruption at the Rantau Panjang, Sungai Selangor Phase 1 (SSP1), SSP 2 and SSP 3 WTP,” he said.
