The Department of Environment (DOE) should review its earlier findings that Sungai Semantan in Pahang is pollution-free as results of preliminary tests conducted by the Selangor government revealed otherwise, according to a Selangor official.

Selangor executive councillor in charge of environment, Elizabeth Wong, said National Water Services Commission (Span) representatives and Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd’s (Air Selangor) river surveillance team today identified the source of the odour pollution in Bentong, Pahang.

"Unfortunately, the teams were not able to enter the suspected premises as Pahang DOE officials were not present during the inspection this morning," she said in a statement.

Wong said the Air Selangor team had been conducting the investigation to identify the source of pollution since Friday in Pahang, and the source of pollution was identified at the discharge point of a suspected factory and at the river.

She said the odour detected was similar to that found at the Sungai Serai Outlet Portal and Sungai Langat Intake on Friday night.

"Today the odour was pervasive with levels as high as 18 TON (Threshold Odour Number). The Sungai Serai Outlet Portal is the entry point to Selangor through a dedicated pipeline pumped from the Semantan River intake point," she explained.

Wong said if the odour pollution persisted, the Pahang-Selangor Water Transfer Project would not be able to proceed due to the water condition from Sungai Semantan.

Pahang DOE director Rosli Zul was quoted as saying that checks conducted at Sungai Semantan on Saturday revealed that the water was free of pollution.

- Bernama