By Selangor Journal Team
SHAH ALAM, Oct 10 — Pollution believed to be from wastes of a nearby factory has resulted in the death of thousands of fish at the Alam Jaya Industrial Park retention pond in Puncak Alam, according to Sinar Harian.
Confirming the incident, Kuala Selangor Municipal Council’s (MPKS) Health and Environment Department director Jefriee Abd Manaf said the retention pond had turned black, gave off a pungent odour and was swarmed by flies, based on observation.
He added that following a collaborated inspection between MPKS, Selangor Water Management Board (Luas) and Environment Department (JAS), enforcement measures were taken against a factory dealing with processing and disposal of expired frozen seafood.
“We acted swiftly by initiating a joint operation and clamping down on the offending factory around 10.30am today.
“We’ve issued two compounds and four notices of immediate closure to this factory,” the Malay daily quoted him as saying during a site visit to the polluted retention pond and the factory.
Jefriee said the factory was initially identified to be the root cause of the pollution following an enforcement operation conducted yesterday.
“The factory management confessed to grinding expired seafood and then discarding them into public drains, which subsequently flowed into the retention pond, located about a kilometre away,” he said.
he factory was also found to have discharged around 40 tonnes of waste effluent daily into a neighbouring drain, giving the water a pinkish hue.
This, in turn, caused water in the retention pond to become dark, releasing a foul odour that residents found nbearable, Jefriee said.
“Our checks showed that this factory has been running without a proper licence for the past couple of months.
“They did apply for one, but JAS mandated that the factory first provide an environmental impact assessment report. Thus, MPKS temporarily held back their licensing, pending JAS’s approval,’’ he said.
Acting in urgency, Jefriee said the factory has been instructed to immediately dispose of the wastes through coordination with KDEB Waste Management (KDEBWM) by tomorrow.
“KDEBWM has willingly stepped in to handle the waste disposal. If the factory continues to defy this directive, we won’t hesitate to implement stricter measures, like cutting off their electricity and water supply,” he said.
