The Selangor Water Management Authority (Luas) and Air Selangor took immediate action on Monday (Oct 9) to prevent prolonged water supply disruptions in the state.
In a statement released on Tuesday (Oct 10), Jamaliah Jamaluddin, the State Public Health and Environment Committee chairman, announced that Luas received a report from Air Selangor regarding a diesel-like odor with a Threshold Odor Number (TON) of 3 at the Rantau Panjang Water Treatment Plant (WTP) inlet at 11.15pm on Monday, despite Luas’s earlier monitoring of the nearby Sungai Sembah and Sungai Selangor indicating a TON of 0 at 11pm.
Jamaliah stated that immediate measures were taken, which included the placement of oil booms at the Rantau Panjang WTP and the release of 590 million liters of water per day from the nearby reserves into Sungai Selangor by midnight to enhance the dilution factor.
She mentioned that samples were collected for monitoring every 30 minutes at the Rantau Panjang WTP inlet.
Furthermore, Luas conducted investigations in various areas on Monday night, such as a sand mining site, nearby development activities, and the Sungai Sembah bridge.
However, the samples collected from these locations showed a TON of 0 and no traces of oil were found.
It is likely that the discharge of oil into Sungai Selangor was minimal and temporary, although samples have been sent for chemical analysis.
The Rantau Panjang WTP resumed operations at 2.30am on Tuesday (Oct 10), while Sungai Selangor WTP 1, 2, and 3 resumed operations by 4am.
Jamaliah emphasized that further investigations to identify the source are ongoing, and the state will not tolerate any party involved in water pollution crimes.
She added that actions will be taken in accordance with Section 79 of the Luas (Amendment) Enactment 2020.
Credit: The Star : Metro Feed
