SHAH ALAM, Nov 5 — The Selangor State Legislative Assembly was told today that most of the river pollution cases in the state were caused by licensed companies or factories.

State Tourism, Environment, Green Technology and Orang Asli Affairs Committee chairman, Hee Loy Sian said the state government did not tolerate the parties involved and would take appropriate action including seizing the land where their premises were built.

He said since 2017, eight companies had faced legal action taken by the Selangor Department of Environment (DoE) and Lembaga Urus Air Selangor (LUAS) under the various acts and enactments.

"Four companies have been prosecuted for causing pollution at the Semenyih River water treatment plants (LRA) and four others for causing pollution at the Selangor River LRA.

"However, it was hard to take action for odour pollution which forced the operations at these LRA to be suspended because we did not find the perpetrators and it involved vandalism such as disposing prohibited substances into the manholes of Indah Water Konsortium Sdn Bhd’s sewerage system,” he said at the State Legislative Assembly sitting here.

Hee was replying to a supplementary question from Dr Idris Ahmad (PH-Ijok) on the actions taken by the state government if the same factory was found to cause repeated pollution.

He said the Selangor DoE frequently conducted spot checks on the respective companies and factories to ensure that they adhere to the regulations and stipulated effluent discharge method.

"Several water-quality telemetry stations have been placed at the water intake as an early warning system, besides using drones to monitor the river basin.

"We are also looking at the suitability of water treatment using ‘diatom’ to reduce the pollutant level in the water sources.

"The state government through LUAS is also involved in the Committee of Odour Pollution Study in Malaysia which is managed by the Environment and Water Ministry and implemented by the National Water Research Institute of Malaysia,” he said.

Hee added that the scope of the study involved monitoring instrument suggestions and setting the threshold of odour pollution at the water sources. — Bernama