MELAKA: Having a special drainage system for treated leachate at the final discharge point of the treatment plant at the Sungai Udang Sanitary Landfill is seen as a proactive method to prevent any recurrence of river pollution incidents caused by effluent discharge from wastewater pond at the site.

Melaka Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation (SWCorp) director Khairuladha Ab Mutalib said the method would reduce the volume and capacity of water in the sediment basin which had been a source of problems at the site.

He said through the method, the appointed operator, Greenviro Solution Sdn Bhd, would ensure that only the surface runoff would enter the area to ensure smooth operation of the landfill.

"In addition, the desludging process and regular maintenance in the sediment basin will be done for at least four months to remove all the silt from the pond involved.

"This process is important to maintain the natural color level of the water mixed with the flow of hill water as well as soil and dust at a nearby construction site," he told reporters at a press conference here today.

On Feb 22, the media reported that the Sungai Udang Sanitary Landfill operator was slapped with a RM10,000 compound on Feb 15 for polluting Sungai Ayer Batu here in August last year.

Effluent released from the wastewater pond had affected agricultural activities of various cash crops and paddy involving 1,500 hectares in Paya Rumput and Bukit Rampai.

Khairuladha said SWCorp apologised for the inconvenience caused, especially to the local residents as well as affected farmers and gave his an assurance that such incident would not happen again.

"SWCorp has and will continue to increase monitoring to prevent the incident from recurring and we would like to thank all the agencies involved in helping to resolve the issues," he said.

-- BERNAMA