SPAN said it had carried out an operation, with the Department of Environment and Indah Water Konsortium Sdn Bhd (IWK), to detect the disposal of prohibited waste which was one of the causes of the Sungai Gong pollution late last night (Sept 24).

“In the operation, four sewerage manholes in the area were inspected and samples of wastewater from these had been taken for laboratory testing to detect the prohibited waste.

“The operation found that there was the activity of releasing prohibited waste into the sewerage manholes in the area,” SPAN said in a statement today.

Last Saturday, the Selangor Water Management Authority received a report of blackish water from Sungai Gong but no smell was emitted from the use of dyes, but after an investigation was conducted, LUAS found coloured and foamy effluent discharged from IWK’s sewage treatment plant in the Rawang industrial area.

SPAN said IWK staff at the plant identified the entry of yellow non-sewage waste into the plant’s inlet chamber, which caused IWK to stop the effluent discharge and carry out a plant cleaning operation.

According to SPAN, the sewage treatment plant was only designed to treat wastewater and was not capable of treating any chemicals or other waste illegally discharged into the sewer pipeline.

SPAN said the disposal of non-sewage waste is a criminal act.