Smell due to wastes

Star: SHAH ALAM: The Selangor government insists the foul-smelling water many households in the state and the Federal Territory experienced on Feb 25 was the result of leacheate (poisonous black liquid) from a landfill, despite the Federal Government saying otherwise.
Acknowledging that the incident happened due to a series of “unintentional leakages,” state executive councillor in charge of the environment Datuk Ch’ng Toh Eng said there had been moves to link the smelly water incident to a general pollution of rivers.
“For the Feb 25 incident, it is because of leacheate entering the Selangor river. The public wants answers and we are stating our findings,” Ch'ng said.
He added that water from taps smelled foul when additional chlorine was added in the water treatment plant to counter the excessive ammonia contained in the raw water supply from the Selangor river.
“Why was there excessive ammonia? We traced the source to leacheate from a landfill,” Ch’ng told Datuk Lee Hwa Beng (BN – Subang Jaya) during Question Time in the state assembly sitting yesterday.
On Feb 26, state authorities traced ammonia content beyond the permitted level at a site on one of the 54 tributaries flowing into Sungai Selangor, the main source of water supply in the Klang Valley.
“There was a silt trap near the detected site. Tests showed dirty water from the silt trap contained leacheate.
“Dirty water from the silt trap spilled over into a small stream because some rocks had became loose on the retaining wall.
“Water from the stream flowed into a small river connected to Sungai Selangor,” said Ch’ng.
Further detection traced the source of the leacheate to a landfill.
At the landfill, it was discovered a valve had been accidentally left open.
The valve was an opening on a pipeline to allow leacheate to flow from one retainer pond to another at the landfill.
Later, when asked by reporters to identify the landfill, Ch’ng said it was inappropriate at this time as investigations were still being conducted by the state Department of Environment.
“The investigation is nearly complete. The papers will be forwarded to the Attorney-General’s Chambers,” he added.