JOHOR BARU: Continued integrated efforts by government agencies to deal with river pollution are among the issues that will be discussed at the meeting of the State Permanent Committee on Environment on Sunday.
Johor Environment Department (DoE) director Wan Abdul Latiff Wan Jaafar said the department took a serious view of river pollution.
“What is important is integrated action by the various agencies to overcome river pollution,” he said when he was asked to comment on the worsening levels of pollution in at least 16 rivers in the districts of Johor Baru and Pasir Gudang.
The meeting will be chaired by state Local Government, Urban Well Being and Environment Committee chairman Tan Chen Choon.
On efforts to prosecute three errant chemical-based factories in Pasir Gudang, he said DoE was preparing an investigation paper that was expected to be ready in two weeks.
He said the factories were expected to be prosecuted under the Environmental Quality Act 1974.
The factories are suspected to be the source of the poisonous gas, methyl mercaptan, detected in Pasir Gudang.
Wan Abdul Latiff also said that a special meeting would be held tomorrow to discuss garbage dump sites, including illegal ones. -Bernama