She said although the Johor government had identified the responsible parties and directed that their facilities be shut down, this was not enough.
“The million-dollar question is: will anyone be held responsible for the inconvenience caused by the major water supply disruption?
“Whose responsibility was it to ensure that the factory adhered to the requirements imposed? And why was the operating licence issued and the factory allowed to operate before it adhered to all technical requirements?” she said in a statement.
She was referring to a fertiliser processing factory near Kluang, which, together with a poultry farm, were identified as the culprits behind the ammonia pollution.
The pollution affected some two million consumers in the Johor Bahru, Kulai and Kota Tinggi districts.
Johor Menteri Besar Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the two facilities had valid operating licences, but that the ammonia pollution from their premises was a repeat offence.
Teo said according to Johor Health, Environment, Education and Information Committee chairman Ayub Rahmat, this was the third such incident caused by the same factory.
She also quoted Ayub as saying that the Department of Environment (DoE) had not supported the approval in the preliminary assessment site for the project in the area.
Johor DoE director Mohammad Ezanni Mat Salleh meanwhile was reported as saying that checks conducted by DoE staff following the previous case of pollution last year showed that the factory had not adhered to proper storage techniques for its fertiliser.
Teo said the Kulai District Land Administrative Office had issued a 7A notice to the owner last September for violating terms under Section 129 of the National Land Code.
This was two months after the previous case of ammonia pollution in July 2016.
Despite the notice, she said, the owner did not adhere to the terms, and the Kulai authorities waited until September this year to issue its second notice.
“Why did it take so long to issue the second notice to the operators?
“Looking at the limited information available now, can we not say the water supply disruption could have been avoided if the state government had adhered to the advice of the relevant agencies and prevailing rules and guidelines?”
Teo, who is DAP assistant national publicity secretary, said the Penang government had recently come under heavy fire for approving the affordable housing project in Tanjung Bungah, which was hit by a landslide on Oct 21.
The criticism was despite Penang’s defence that it had received approval from the Department of Minerals and Geoscience, and that the DoE had made no objection to the Tunku Abdul Rahman College project, located in the same vicinity.
“So now, can the Johor state government be as transparent as the Penang state government and provide reasons why the project was allowed despite DoE’s disapproval?” she said.
Johor orders poultry farm, factory closed after river pollution hits water supply