KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 5 — The Ministry of Environment and Water (Kasa) said today it has identified the main source that caused the odour pollution in Sungai Semenyih, which inevitably caused the second water cut in Selangor in the space of one month.

In a statement, Kasa said it found organic waste at a bush in an industrial area at Jalan Emas in the Nilai Industrial Estate in Negri Sembilan.

“The bad odour of waste is almost similar to the odour that caused the Sungai Semenyih water treatment plant to stop working since yesterday,” it said.

“The illegal waste found is suspected to be managed by an unregistered company and the investigation by the police, National Water Services Commission and Department of Environment will refer to the findings in this area as a secondary source.”

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It also said that six soil samples have been taken for examinations by the Department of Chemistry.

Meanwhile, the Seremban City Council and the Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Corporation (SWCorp) will clean up the bulk waste on the offending site, with the organic waste disposal area being closely monitored by the DoE and the police.

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The ministry also said that provider Air Selangor has yet be able to restore water services as the odour pollution is still heavy at between 7 to 8 threshold odour number (TON).

Earlier today, Environment and Water Minister Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said initial investigations found that the polluted water was flowing to Sungai Semenyih from Sungai Batang Benar, which is close to the industrial area.

A total of 309,687 consumer accounts in the Petaling, Hulu Langat, Kuala Langat and Sepang districts suffered unscheduled water supply disruptions due to the shutdown of the two water treatment plants yesterday.

This latest disruption comes on the heels of a similar incident last month that affected 1,292 areas in the Klang Valley, Petaling, Klang/Shah Alam, Kuala Selangor, Hulu Selangor, Gombak and Kuala Langat for almost a week.