Water supply unaffected by pollution of river

SHAH ALAM: Pollution detected in Sungai Batang Benar due to a fire at a paint factory in Nilai 3, Negri Sembilan, on Monday afternoon has not affected water supply to consumers in Selangor.

Selangor Tourism, Environment, Green Technology and Orang Asli Affairs Committee chairman Hee Loy Sian said in a statement yesterday that following the incident, the Selangor Water Management Authority (LUAS) activated a “yellow code” based on the Water Resources Pollution Emergency Manual for a thorough investigation at the affected area, Bernama reported.

“Preliminary investigations revealed that a white stream of water had entered Lake Ujana Nilai Impian in Negri Sembilan before entering Sungai Batang Benar. The incident was detected following firefighting operations at the paint factory.”

He said the distance from the scene of the fire to the Jenderam Hilir inlet in Sungai Semenyih in Selangor was about 13.7km and it would take about nine hours for the pollutants to reach the inlet at the water treatment plant in Sungai Semenyih.

“Odour sampling tests were carried out at three different locations in Sungai Pajam, Sungai Beranang and Sungai Semenyih and the threshold odour number (TON) reading was recorded at zero,” he said.

Meanwhile, LUAS continued to monitor Sungai Pajam and conducted static monitoring and odour sampling tests until 8am yesterday and found that the TON reading remained at zero.

Hee said LUAS had also taken preventive measures by placing 10 bags of activated carbon in Sungai Batang Benar to prevent odour pollution in raw water, adding that the immediate action taken to manage the pollution at the site had succeeded in preventing a shutdown at the Sungai Semenyih water treatment plant that would have caused water disruption supply.