THE Sungai Semenyih water treatment plant was forced to close yesterday due to illegal waste disposal near the plant, Indah Water Consortium Sdn Bhd (IWK) said.

IWK in a statement said the problem was identified in a joint inspection conducted by Lembaga Urus Air Selangor (LUAS) and the National Water Service Commission (SPAN) at the Bandar Putera Mahkota sewage water treatment plant.

“From the investigation, it was found that it was not sewage odour at the inlet of the plant and due to the odour, the team had to temporarily stop the effluent discharge to enable immediate cleanup operations.

“At 7pm, there was no odour that came from the sewage that flows through the plant’s inlet.

“At the same time, SPAN, LUAS and IWK personnel have conducted an inspection of the sewers around the area and found out that there was illegal waste disposal with solvent odours. This incident is similar to the incident that occurred last September,” the statement said.

It said the IWK sewage treatment plants could not treat illegal waste.

IWK has lodged a police report.

The statement said it was sad to see that various parties were blaming IWK for the incident when it was caused by irresponsible people who had illegally disposed of waste.

The statement emphasised that IWK would always ensure the operations and maintenance work in all of its 7,000 plants were done in accordance with the specifications and procedures prescribed by the authorities.

Due to pollution in the river, the Sungai Semenyih water treatment plant was forced to cease operations yesterday, affecting 328,957 accounts in 348 areas in Petaling, Hulu Langat, Kuala Langat and Sepang. – Bernama, December 22, 2019.