The Penang government has revealed through a brief video clip, a pipe connecting to Indah Water Konsortium's sewage treatment plant discharging "earthy effluent" into the Batu Ferringhi river.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng did this at a meeting with IWK in Komtar yesterday, attended by state executive council members, state assemblypersons and MPs.
However, no solution seems to be in sight as IWK continues to deny its role in the issue.
Lim is sticking the by reports from the Department of Environment (DOE) and Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) which point to IWK as the main contributor to the black, stinky discharge, which has grabbed the headlines since Monday.
"Despite their denials, we will stick by the DOE and DID reports that claim IWK is the main contributor to the matter," Lim said at a press conference after the briefing.
"The effluent discharged is on an industrial scale, and is not done by individuals," he added.
Lim, however, expressed appreciation that his administration and IWK had managed to have a "civilised discussion" as both sides lent their ears to the other over their stand on the issue.
"We don't want to quarrel over this," Lim quipped.
"The most urgent and important thing is to clean up the beach and identify the root cause, so it wouldn't happen again," he added.
Lim, however, reiterated that the state has no power to bring IWK, the national sewerage plant, to book, neither has it the power to clean up the pollution.
The task is under the federal government's purview, he added, urging the authorities to act straightaway on the matter.
After five days, no one fesses up
As to whether the beach would be sealed off for safety purposes, Lim (left) said "the situation is improving", adding that the state would be discussing the issue further.
It is unfortunate that five days had passed and yet no one wants to admit to the pollution of the Batu Ferringhi river, where water samples found traces of the life threatening E. coli bacteria.
The delay will not only place lives in danger but no efforts to clean up the beach until now will drive away tourists, hurting the livelihood of those engaged in the tourist industry.
Earlier, IWK chief executive officer Abdul Kadir Mohammad Din briefed Lim, state exco members, assemblypersons and MPs, asserting that the black solids discovered at the beach do not resemble the sludge particles found in the sewage plant.
This was also pointed out to a team of reporters and photographers which had toured the Ferringhi sewage treatment plant yesterday morning.
Abdul Kadir, however, assured that IWK will conduct further testing to verify the characteristic of the black solid particles.
"The overflow was stopped within 20 minutes (after it was discovered that the valve was not tightly closed) and during this period, the total flow discharged was 37 cubic metres which is equivalent to 0.5 percent of the 7,500 cubic metres daily flow," he explained.
"It is not possible that within 20 minutes we could turn the river and sea black,” he added.
Although he continues to deny that IWK was the cause of the pollution, Abdul Kadir said, "We did not react defensively and are willing to share our knowledge and help to identify the cause of the problem".
It is learnt that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has directed the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry to "get to the root of the Sungai Batu Ferringhi pollution and solve the problem once and for all," according to a New Straits Times report.
The English daily said that Najib had expressed concern over the issue, which is "threatening to put Penang on the world map for all the wrong reasons."
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng did this at a meeting with IWK in Komtar yesterday, attended by state executive council members, state assemblypersons and MPs.
However, no solution seems to be in sight as IWK continues to deny its role in the issue.
Lim is sticking the by reports from the Department of Environment (DOE) and Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) which point to IWK as the main contributor to the black, stinky discharge, which has grabbed the headlines since Monday."Despite their denials, we will stick by the DOE and DID reports that claim IWK is the main contributor to the matter," Lim said at a press conference after the briefing.
"The effluent discharged is on an industrial scale, and is not done by individuals," he added.
Lim, however, expressed appreciation that his administration and IWK had managed to have a "civilised discussion" as both sides lent their ears to the other over their stand on the issue.
"We don't want to quarrel over this," Lim quipped.
"The most urgent and important thing is to clean up the beach and identify the root cause, so it wouldn't happen again," he added.
Lim, however, reiterated that the state has no power to bring IWK, the national sewerage plant, to book, neither has it the power to clean up the pollution.
The task is under the federal government's purview, he added, urging the authorities to act straightaway on the matter.
After five days, no one fesses up
As to whether the beach would be sealed off for safety purposes, Lim (left) said "the situation is improving", adding that the state would be discussing the issue further.It is unfortunate that five days had passed and yet no one wants to admit to the pollution of the Batu Ferringhi river, where water samples found traces of the life threatening E. coli bacteria.
The delay will not only place lives in danger but no efforts to clean up the beach until now will drive away tourists, hurting the livelihood of those engaged in the tourist industry.
Earlier, IWK chief executive officer Abdul Kadir Mohammad Din briefed Lim, state exco members, assemblypersons and MPs, asserting that the black solids discovered at the beach do not resemble the sludge particles found in the sewage plant.
This was also pointed out to a team of reporters and photographers which had toured the Ferringhi sewage treatment plant yesterday morning.
Abdul Kadir, however, assured that IWK will conduct further testing to verify the characteristic of the black solid particles.
"The overflow was stopped within 20 minutes (after it was discovered that the valve was not tightly closed) and during this period, the total flow discharged was 37 cubic metres which is equivalent to 0.5 percent of the 7,500 cubic metres daily flow," he explained.
"It is not possible that within 20 minutes we could turn the river and sea black,” he added.
Although he continues to deny that IWK was the cause of the pollution, Abdul Kadir said, "We did not react defensively and are willing to share our knowledge and help to identify the cause of the problem".
It is learnt that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has directed the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry to "get to the root of the Sungai Batu Ferringhi pollution and solve the problem once and for all," according to a New Straits Times report.
The English daily said that Najib had expressed concern over the issue, which is "threatening to put Penang on the world map for all the wrong reasons."
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