By AFIQ AZIZ / Pic By TMR File

THE odour pollution which led to the Sungai Semenyih Water Treatment Plant’s (LRA) shutdown on Saturday may be due to an unauthorised disposal of water waste into a manhole in Bandar Bukit Mahkota, Bangi.

Selangor Environmental, Green Technology, Science, Technology and Innovation and Consumer Affairs Committee chairman Hee Loy Sian said such waste could not be treated by the sewage treatment facility accordingly, causing the sewer to stop operation at 8.15pm.

He said the initial results were obtained after the Selangor Waters Management Authority (LUAS) and Department of Environment (DoE) investigated the surrounding area.

“Investigators detected some type of solvent smell in a manhole, so it is likely that this was the main entrance of the liquid, before it flowed into the Indah Water Konsortium Sdn Bhd (IWK) treatment facility,” Hee said in a statement yesterday.

Following this, Hee said the autho-rity has poured 575kg of activated carbon to reduce the odour.

“Heavy rains on Saturday night and early today (Sunday) have also helped speed up the dilution processes and reduce the odour pollution in Sungai Semenyih. As a result, the Sungai Semenyih LRA resumed operations at 4.30am,” he said yesterday.

This is the fourth unscheduled water disruption this year involving the main water treatment plant within two months. This time, it has affected some 372,031 accounts in Petaling, Hulu Langat, Kuala Langat and Sepang.

Hee said the authorities are working to identify the parties responsible for the contamination, and action will be taken accordingly to curb the issue from recurring.

“If found guilty, the parties are punishable under the Environmental Quality Act 1974 by the DoE or Section 79 of the Enactment LUAS 1999. This is subject to the sampling given by the Chemistry Department later,” he said.

Meanwhile, Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor) informed that all affected accounts have received clean water supply as of 12pm yesterday.

Air Selangor’s customer relations and communications chief Abdul Raof Ahmad (picture) said up to 357 million litres of treated water were disrupted because of the pollution.

IWK and DoE have lodged a police report, stating that the contamination did not take place at the former’s facility, instead was found outside of the treatment plant’s entry point.

“The sewage treatment plant is designed to strictly treat wastewater and cannot deal with any chemicals or unauthorised residuals discharged to the sewer pipes,” IWK said in a statement yesterday.

The company added that all its 7,000 plants are always maintained according to the standard specifications and procedures set by the authority.