Selangor tourism, environment, green technology and Orang Asli affairs committee chairman Hee Loy Sian said the operations at the Semenyih treatment plant were stopped at 11.15pm, while the one at Bukit Tampoi was shut down at 2am today. However, both water treatment plants resumed operations at 1.30am and 8am respectively.

Earlier, Hee said Lembaga Urus Air Selangor (Luas) received an update from the Selangor environment department last night on the foamy river pollution in Sungai Batang Benar, Negeri Sembilan. He added that it was suspected to have been caused by discharge from a factory in the nearby industrial area.

“An immediate investigation by Luas at the stated location confirmed the presence of a foamy substance and a soap-like smell.

“Luas then checked downstream of Sungai Semenyih and Sungai Buah and found conditions to be normal with no odour detected. Odour sampling in Kampung Rinching Hilir, Sungai Semenyih also recorded a reading of zero TON,” he said in a statement.

However, Hee added that based on information from Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor) odour pollution of up to four TON was detected in Jenderam Hilir at 11pm.

“Following this, the Semenyih and Bukit Tampoi water treatment plants’ operations were closed temporarily at 11.15pm (yesterday) and 2am (early today),” he said.

Hee said Luas had also increased the frequency of checks on the mouth of Jenderam Hilir to every 30 minutes to closely monitor the status of the odour pollution and zero TON readings were recorded consistently with a decreasing odour pollution trend from 12.30am.

“Both treatment plants resumed operations after the odour pollution recorded zero TON consistently at three intervals. Air Selangor said the water supply disruption was minimal and fully restored at 9.30am,” he said.

Meanwhile, Hee said the release of the foam in Sungai Batang Benar is believed to have occurred early yesterday evening during a heavy rain.

“Luas has asked the Selangor environment department to seek help from the Negeri Sembilan environment department as the location of the incident was outside its jurisdiction and involved an industrial area,” he said.

Hee added that the state government will not compromise with those who commit crimes of water pollution and that strict action will be taken in line with the provisions of the Luas Enactment 1999.

“The Selangor government and Luas urge everyone to be concerned about activities that have the potential to contribute to the pollution of the state’s water resources, and to report any suspicious activity to Luas for immediate action to be taken,” he said.