SHAH ALAM: THREE factories operating along Sungai Semantan in Pahang have been identified as being the possible source of the pollution that has forced the closure of the Semenyih Water Treatment Plant.
The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry has identified the factories, but its minister, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, said the odour could have come from various chemicals.
Following the finding, he said he would instruct the Department of Environment to investigate and identify the specific factories causing the pollution, adding that all three factories were operating on riverine reserved land, including at water catchment areas.
“I am not going to point fingers because we have yet to find the cause of the contamination in Sungai Semantan as well as in Sungai Semenyih.
“We need to wait for the outcome of the investigation, but I urge state governments to ensure that factories or houses built on riverine reserve land are moved.
“We will instruct each state to investigate and identify how many factories are operating along the river reserve, including at water catchment areas.
“Why houses? It is because some houses may also be discharging waste into the river.
“Our (the ministry’s) jurisdiction is limited, and it is the state governments’ responsibility to resolve the matter,” he said after officiating Management and Science University’s Environmental Sustainability Campaign at its campus here yesterday.
He said industry players also played a major role in preserving the environment.
“I have always stressed the need to keep our rivers clean, but the message seems to have fallen on deaf ears,” he said.
Meanwhile, Air Selangor group corporate communications head Amin Lin Abdullah said a surveillance team was currently in Pahang to help the Pahang Water Resource Authority and Pahang Department of Environment in identifying the pollutant.
“There is no conclusive evidence yet. Water samples (are) still being tested,” he said yesterday.
Amin said they would make public the results of the investigation.
Air Selangor’s river surveillance team has been in Pahang since Oct 7.