Penang to carry out investigations into heavy-metal pollution

GEORGE TOWN: The Department of Environment (DOE) and the Fisheries Department have been tasked with unraveling the cause behind the heavy metal pollution in waters off northern Penang.

Denying that the state government was unaware of the problem, State Environment Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh said an investigation was initiated two weeks ago to determine the extent of the pollution and its source.

“However the (news) reports had pre-empted any official statement on the matter,” he said.

Phee said the first step in the investigation was to determine if there were cases of dead fishes which could be from the metal poisoning.

He said the next step was to determine the source of the pollution.

Phee said a likely source was illegal dumping as there were no ships plying the waters near the Penang National Park.

“DOE had been directed to identify factories which have high levels of nickel in their manufacturing process and whether there has been any illegal dumping in the coastal areas.

“There were cases of cyanide dumping off Pulau Aman in the nineties and we have to investigate if there are such cases.

“We are not ruling out anything on the source of the pollution and will only know when DOE has completed its investigations,” he said, adding that there was no deadline on the investigation.

Phee was commenting on a report by an English daily, which quoted a study by Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies (CEMAS) which revealed the presence of nickel at 944 per cent higher than normal levels in the waters off the Penang National Park.

The studies also revealed high levels of lead, above 184 per cent of normal levels, while Cadium was 32 per cent higher than normal levels.

The source of the pollution is yet to be determined, although it hints at the possibility of passing ships dumping heavy metal containing materials into the sea.

On the dangers to swimmers, Phee said DOE was monitoring the situation and would alert authorities if there were reports of swimmers being affected by heavy metal poisoning.

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