The National Water Services Commission (Span) today urged the Selangor government and environment authorities to raid all satellite factories in the Kuang area and check if they are dumping waste into tributaries that flow into Sungai Selangor.
They made the suggestion based on an inquiry held into the July water pollution, which had caused water disruption in 1,140 areas in Selangor for about a week.
According to Span chairperson Charles Santiago, while action has been taken on a foreign-owned business that ran illegal plastic recycling operations responsible for the pollution, they learned there are other factories that carry out similar activities in the area.
He said action has also not been taken against a local recycling company that rented their premises to the business owned by a China national, and allowed the latter to ride on their recycling permit.
"We urge the Selayang Municipal Council, Department of Environment (DOE) and Selangor state government to urgently conduct a raid in the area.
"Check every step, whether they (the factories) have valid licences, environmental impact assessment (EIA) and whether they comply with all the regulations.
"This is urgent because it involves the issue of rakyat's health and water security. (The country's water) is facing all sorts of pollution from plastic waste and e-waste, among others.
"We have to stop this. We need political will and that must come from the state government," Charles told a press conference held at Span headquarters in Cyberjaya earlier today.
Odour pollution
On July 23, Air Selangor had to temporarily shut down four water treatment plants in the state due to odour pollution - which was later traced back to a recycling factory located at Jalan Kampung Orang Asli Kuang.
Subsequently, authorities arrested several individuals to facilitate investigation, before they charged the factory owner under the Environment Quality Act in September.
The owner, a Chinese national named Huang Gang, was later found guilty and sentenced to three-month imprisonment and fined RM240,000.
According to Charles, the man's company (Company B) had rented the premises from a local company (Company A) that also operated two recycling operations in the same compound.
Investigation revealed that Company B, which only has a business license, was illegally operating plastic recycling activities using polymethyl methacrylate (PMAA), a solvent chemical hazardous to health.
The pollution in Sungai Kuang in July occurred after some three tonnes of PMAA had leaked from Company B and flowed into drains and an outlet that went straight into a tributary called Sungai Lampan Yu.
The tributary flows into Sungai Kuang and eventually into Sungai Selangor.
Charles said the inquiry held in August also found that Company A had illegally diverted Sungai Lampan Yu to run through its compound.
Similar operations
The former Klang MP said Span learned there are many similar satellite factories still operating in the area.
Their inquiry also revealed that the area had been under the state government's recent “pemutihan” (legalisation) programme that targeted illegal factories.
"We would like to suggest the Selangor state government improves their factory legalisation programme, including imposing a limit on the type of activities and business that can be carried out near any river.
"The Selangor Water Management Authority (Luas) should be given more power to decide whether a factory can be approved or otherwise because Luas is currently not involved in this process - only the local councils and DOE.
"We also asked the DOE why they did not know what was happening in the area, and they said (permit or licence) renewals were done online.
"This is what happens when permits are renewed online. So, we want to suggest that authorities conduct physical inspections of premises for every new application and renewal of business licenses." - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.