HULU SELANGOR:Water discharged from an illegal catfish pond has been identified as the cause of odour pollution which halted the Rantau Panjang and Sungai Selangor Phases 1, 2 and 3 water treatment plant (LRA) operations at about 11.30 pm yesterday.

State Tourism, Environment and Green Technology, and Orang Asli Affairs Committee chairman, Hee Loy Sian said the initial investigation detected a foul odour believed to be of dead fish in the samples of raw water obtained from Sungai Selangor.

"At 9.50 last night, Lembaga Urus Air Selangor (LUAS) detected pollution at the level of four TON (threshold odour number) at the plant intakes.

Following that, an inspection was carried out which detected a foul smell like dead fish in Sungai Selangor before we released the HORAS water (Hybrid off River Augmentation System) to dilute the smell," he told reporters after inspecting the aquaculture pond in Serendah, here.

Hee said monitoring by LUAS, the Hulu Selangor District Council and Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd discovered that water from one of the 57 fish ponds was discharged into Sungai Selangor for the purpose of drying the pond.

The 45-hectare aquaculture farm is located about 8.7 km from the Rantau Panjang LRA.

LUAS has so far done six samplings at the location to measure the parameters of ammoniacal nitrogen (AN) total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorous (TF).

"We expect the water supply to fully recover in stages from 3 pm today and I confirm that there is no water supply disruption as the treatment plant stopped operations for four to five hours," said Hee, adding that the incident only caused unstable and low water pressure.

He said the owner of the pond could be fined a minimum of RM200,000 or up to RM1 million and jailed for up to three years upon conviction under the Lembaga Urus Air Selangor (LUAS) (Amendment) Enactment 1999.

The premises would also be sealed for operating illegally, he said.

-- BERNAMA