Selangor exco member Elizabeth Wong has urged the Negri Sembilan government to clean-up the site of the pollution that has caused water disruptions in Selangor.

She said Selangor has been building bunds at the confluence between Sungai Buah and Sungai Semenyih, and had treated the water at the bunds as well as the site of the pollution across the border with activated carbon.

This proved to be effective in lowering the level of pollution, she said, but it is not sustainable.

“We want Negri Sembilan to treat the site so that the polluted water does not flow into Sungai Buah. If they do not do that this is the unfortunate situation we are in.

“We have been building bunds - we have three - and we had to buy activated carbon every day.

“We have depleted the stock (of activated carbon) in Selangor already. It is all coming here. We cannot do this every day for 365 days a year, so they have to settle that problem,” she told reporters at the site of the mitigation works today.

She said the pollutant is identified as 4-bromodiphenyl ether, which had contaminated the soil at a site near Kilometre 45.9 of the Elite Highway in Nilai and was eventually washed into Sungai Buah.

The river then flows into Sungai Semenyih downstream and then Sungai Langat, before reaching the Sungai Langat water treatment plant.

The plant had been shut down several times over the past week due to the pollution, which in turn disrupted the water supply in parts of the state.

Thus far, Wong said, 10 tonnes of the activated carbon had been used to treat the water at the bunds yesterday, 10 tonnes had been use near at the source of the pollution, while another 10 tonnes are on the way.

Taking a risk

She said she is unsure if any protocol had been broken by pouring the activated carbon across state boundaries, but expressed willingness to take the risk.

“Water security is more critical. So if they want to arrest us, go ahead. We are willing to do it; so we are still doing it.

“Unless they clean Nilai, excavate the soil, and everything that needs to be done there, and the water flowing from Nilai is in the condition before, we will remain here,” she said.

She also lamented a lack of cooperation from Negri Sembilan authorities.

She claimed that when Selangor Water Management Board (Luas) acting director Nor Zamri Sondor contacted his Negri Sembilan counterpart for help last Thursday, he was told that he was on his own.

“Their attitude unfortunately was ‘This water is used by Selangorians, so you settle this problem yourself’.

“So from their point of view, it is not their problem because we are using their water, apparently. I was really shocked when I heard it.

“I think in a situation like this where there is an emergency… If we were in their place, we would be going all-out to help. Nothing political; this is about people’s lives. We are very disappointment with that,” she said, referring to the Badan Kawalselia Air Negri Sembilan.

On the other hand, she said the Selangor government has experienced cooperation from the federal government’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) and the National Water Services Commission. (Span).

With the NRE Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar’s statement yesterday, she said she hopes it would lead to better cooperation from across the state border.

Clean up first, investigate later

Meanwhile, Negri Sembilan state opposition leader Anthony Loke urged the state government set politics aside and assist the Selangor government.

He said the water quality must be restored immediately, while investigations - including allegations of sabotage - can wait.

“I think what is important now is for both state governments to cooperate and resolve the pollution first, and investigations on the allegations of sabotage should come afterwards.

“What is of priority now is to clean the river and restore water supply to the affected residents.

“That is the first priority, and I hope the Negri Sembilan menteri besar can give full cooperation to the Selangor government. Politics should be set aside, this is about the welfare of many Selangorians who have to face water supply woes,” he told reporter today.

Loke was visiting the mitigation works site in Kampung Buah shortly after Wong’s press conference, together with a group of DAP elected representatives and representatives from Subang and USJ residents’ associations.

Rarely used chemical

As for the chemical identified as the pollutant, Wong said the chemical is rarely used in industry and there is not much written about it, besides that it is toxic to aquatic life, corrosive, and an irritant.

She said the Selangor Water Management Lab’s water quality chief Abdul Karim Endut even had to perform his own experiments to establish that activated carbon works well in absorbing the pollutant, and she had never been so happy to see a river turn black because it was so effective.

She said chemical experts that the state had consulted informed her that 4-bromodiphenyl ether is a fire retardant, and had also found use in the furniture industry.

“But it is rarely used, even in these two industries,” she said.

However, she said there little that Selangor can do about it except to hand over its findings and samples to the authorities, including the police and the Negri Sembilan government.