Span denies Hee's statement that it was slow to react to effluents dumping

 

The National Water Services Commission (Span) has flatly denied claims by Selangor exco member Hee Loy Sian that it was slow to react to the presence of effluents that forced the shutdown of four water treatment plants and triggered the water supply disruption that affected more than one million households in the Klang Valley this week.

At the Selangor state legislative assembly sitting in Shah Alam yesterday, Hee (above) had expressed disappointment, saying that appropriate action could have been taken if the state government had been promptly informed.

He said the Indah Water Consortium had suspected an operator of dumping scheduled waste which caused its sewage treatment plant at Taman Velox, Rawang, Selangor to suspend its operations on Nov 4.

He said that Indah Water had only notified Span of the situation and not the state government.

"Span would like to clarify that the statement is inaccurate and can confuse users.

"Span would like to inform the public that the discovery of foreign effluents at the Taman Velox sewage treatment plant on Nov 4 was not the cause of pollution and closure of the water treatment plants (in Kuala Selangor on Nov 10.)

Span had ordered Indah Water to cease operations at its plant on Nov 5 so that no effluent would be discharged from the premises into Sungai Gong, said Span's Corporate Communications Department in a statement today.

It added that Indah Water, with the help of Span, had also conducted an investigation into the source of pollution at nearby industrial premises and that effluent waste from two companies was taken for the purpose of sampling on the same day.

"In addition, Indah Water also issued a notice of notification on Nov 4 to the local council (the Selayang Municipal Council) and the Selangor Department of Environment informing them of the effluent pollution situation faced by Indah Water," said Span, adding that a police report had also been lodged on the matter on Nov 5.

"With regard to the closure of the four water treatment plants in Selangor on Nov 10 due to odour pollution at Sungai Selangor, Span would like to assure the public it is committed to ensuring that any water supply and sewerage company under the supervision of Span does not contribute to pollution either in the form of odour or physical contamination," it said

Span will not hesitate to take action against any agency regulated by it, it added.

Span confirmed that the source of the Nov 10 pollution was from a prohibited effluent (scheduled waste) released into a public sewer hole by an unlicensed company located not far from the Taman Velox IWK plant.

"This irresponsible act caused disruption to the operation of the Taman Velox sewage plant and to more than one million users of water supply services who rely on resources from the four water treatment plants affected by the termination of duty," said Span.

It confirmed that the odour pollution at Sungai Selangor was detected by a Selangor Water Management Board (Luas) enforcement team at around 12.20pm on Nov 10.

"All relevant enforcement agencies namely the Royal Police Malaysia (PDRM), Department of Environment (DOE), Span, Jabatan Air Selangor, Luas, Selangor Municipal Council and Indah Water went down to find the cause of the pollution and the operation also involved the Environment and Water Ministry's chief secretary Zaini Ujang who was one of the earliest individuals to identify the cause," it added.

The integrated action bore fruit when the premises was discovered the same night and the four water treatment plants resumed operations after less than 15 hours of interruption, said Span. - Mkini