By Nasuha Badrul Huzaini
SHAH ALAM, May 12 — The swift action taken by the Selangor Management Water Authority (Luas) in tracing diesel-like pollution in public drains nearby Sungai Langat has averted an incident of pollution from happening.
State executive councillor for environment Hee Loy Sian said Luas received a report from the Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor) at 3.45pm yesterday and the preliminary investigation detected the diesel-like pollution came from a drain leading into Sungai Langat.
“The authorities conducted further investigation and found a lorry workshop, believed to be the source of the pollution incident.
“At the same time, Luas also found oil waste in the drain near the workshop. Accordingly, Luas has activated code yellow in accordance with the Water Resource Pollution Emergency Manual for a more comprehensive investigation.
“The sampling was carried out at four different locations in the premise, outside the premise as well as in the upstream and downstream areas of Sungai Langat.
“The distance from the pollution area to three water treatment plants (WTP) in the downstream area is approximately 24 kilometres (km) to Semenyih WTP, 32km to Bukit Tampoi WTP and 44 km to Labohan Dagang WTP,” he said in a statement today.
Hee added that Air Selangor has placed two bags of activated carbon powder in the drain near the premise, as a measure to curb the oil waste from getting into the drain and flowing to Sungai Langat.
“This immediate action was carried out in less than four hours involving the Kajang Municipal Council, the National Water Services Commission (SPAN) and the Royal Police of Malaysia to ensure no disruption in WTP and water supply to the consumers.
“Luas has also issued an order to the premise based on Section 121 (1) Luas Enactment 1999 to remove any potential contaminants which could cause pollution to river water as well as to conduct immediate cleaning to ensure the incident does not recur,” he said.
