Quick action stops Sungai Semenyih plant from being polluted

 

Quick action by the authorities successfully avoided a chemical waste pollution incident at a lake near a clubhouse in Bandar Mahkota Cheras that could have potentially disrupted operations at the Sungai Semenyih water treatment plant (WTP) yesterday.

Selangor state Tourism, Environment, Green Technology, and Orang Asli Affairs Committee chairperson Hee Loy Sian said white-coloured solvent believed to be chemical waste was discovered by the public in an Indah Water Konsortium (IWK) manhole around the area.

“A public complaint to the Selangor Department of Environment (DOE) around 10pm yesterday led to the removal of the chemical waste from the manhole. Two tankers were used in the removal operation.

“The IWK sewerage treatment plant was shut down last night to allow cleaning work to be done and it was completed by 2am today,” he told reporters after attending a briefing regarding Selangor’s water supply issues today.

Hee said investigations revealed that the chemical waste spilt out of an IWK manhole before seeping into the lake, which flows to Sungai Beranang, located a kilometre away.

He said the quick actions by Selangor DOE by placing 20 bags of activated carbon had successfully blocked and neutralised the chemical waste from flowing on to Sungai Beranang.

“This is a success for us in stopping an attempt by irresponsible parties to dispose of scheduled waste indiscriminately. Since 2018, this area has been targeted three times by irresponsible parties,” he said.

Hee added that they suspected the party who dumped the chemicals used a lorry to avoid being detected by authorities.

“If not for the quick action taken by respective agencies yesterday, we would have been forced to stop operations at the plant due to contaminated water that would have flowed into the plant within 10 hours,” he said.

- Bernama