Investigate perfume spill incident which led to water cuts, lawyers urge

SHAH ALAM – Legal practitioners have agreed that the recent odour pollution that resulted in water cuts in five districts in Selangor on Saturday should be investigated.

Although the recent incident had been ruled out as ‘accident’, such pollution had occurred repeatedly which was a nuisance for the residents in the affected districts.

Lawyer Megat Syazreel Mokhtarom said that he believed the perfume spill should be investigated as pollution at Selangor rivers seems to be a recurring problem.

Megat Syazreel said that there were premises brought to court for offences related to water pollution and scheduled waste management, however, this did not seem to deter polluters from committing the offences.

“Thus, there have been many calls by the public for the current act to be amended to add the provision that allows claims for losses by affected parties.

“I believe this could add further financial consequences to polluters as well as compensate parties who are affected by this water disruption,” he told Sinar Daily.

Lawyer Afiq Akmal Zainal Abidin stated that the authorities could use provisions in the Water Services Industry Act of 2006 and the Environmental Quality Act 1974 to prosecute the people involved in the and impose fines or jail time.

“According to the way these laws are written, the authorities must demonstrate that the parties responsible for the accident did, in fact, intend to cause it, thus there must be a careful and complete investigation,” Afiq said.

Meanwhile, lawyer Fatihah Jamhari said that under the law, any act or omission that results from 'accident or misfortune, and without any criminal intention or knowledge, in the doing of a lawful act in a lawful manner, by lawful means, and with proper care and caution' was a good defence.

She said that the only investigation that would be conducted was to ascertain whether the accident could have been avoided with proper care and caution.

On Dec 24, seventeen tonnes of perfume essence from a container involved in an accident has been identified as the main cause of Sungai Semenyih’s odour pollution that resulted to water cuts in five districts in Selangor today.

In a statement, the Selangor Water Management Authority (Luas) said the container carrying the liquid in 17 intermediate bulk containers (IBC) was involved in an accident at km 44.1 heading north, Elite Highway near Bandar Serenia, Negeri Sembilan.

It was previously reported that a total of 472 areas in five districts in Petaling, Hulu Langat, Sepang, Putrajaya and Kuala Langat experienced unscheduled water supply disruptions.

Air Selangor said the disruption was due to the suspension of Sungai Semenyih LRA and Bukit Tampoi LRA due to a pollution incident at Jenderam Hilir Raw Water Pumping Station.