SHAH ALAM: Lembaga Urus Air Selangor (LUAS) sudah mengenalpasti punca pencemaran air Sungai Kapar Kechil sehingga bertukar biru berikutan penemuan itu pada 18 Jun lalu.

Exco Kesihatan Awam dan Alam Sekitar, Jamaliah Jamaluddin berkata, siasatan LUAS pada 6 Julai lalu di Kawasan Industri Batu 8, Jalan Kapar menemukan aktiviti mencurigakan oleh sebuah premis memproses plastik kitar semula berhampiran Sungai Kapar Kechil.

"Semakan di dalam premis mendapati terdapat sebuah pam yang disyaki digunakan untuk mengepam efluen dari kolam premis ke Sungai Kapar Kechil.

"Semakan lanjut juga mendapati terdapat dua lagi pam digunakan oleh premis untuk mengabstrak air sungai tanpa kebenaran.

"LUAS sudah mengarahkan premis untuk menghentikan serta-merta operasi pam dan melakukan pensampelan di lokasi berkaitan premis serta dihantar ke Jabatan Kimia Malaysia (JKM) bagi analisis dan tindakan penguatkuasaan lanjut.

"LUAS membuka kertas siasatan mengikut Seksyen 79 (4) Enakmen LUAS 1999 bagi kesalahan mencemarkan sumber air, dan Seksyen 107 (b) bagi kesalahan mengabstrak sumber air tanpa kebenaran," katanya dalam satu kenyataan petang semalam.

Jamaliah berkata, siasatan susulan LUAS pada 8 Julai pula menemukan sebuah lagi premis yang disyaki di kawasan sama.

"Semakan di sebuah premis penyimpanan cecair getah mendapati terdapat kebocoran kepada penutup outlet tangki intermediate bulk container (IBC) milik premis yang menyimpan bahan cecair getah berwarna biru bagi pembuatan sarung tangan.

"Pemerhatian lanjut mendapati tiada kolam takungan di premis bagi menampung aliran sisa cecair berwarna itu sehingga menyebabkan ia terus mengalir ke dalam longkang premis, seterusnya ke parit berhampiran, dan akhirnya ke Sungai Kapar Kechil.

"LUAS mengeluarkan Surat Arahan di bawah Seksyen 121 (1), Enakmen LUAS 1999 untuk premis menghentikan dan menutup aliran serta melakukan pembersihan sisa tumpahan itu di semua lokasi terbabit di dalam premis serta-merta," katanya.

Pada masa sama katanya, LUAS sudah melaksanakan pensampelan di semua lokasi dan dihantar kepada pihak Jabatan Kimia Malaysia untuk analisis lanjut.

"Kerja-kerja pembersihan oleh premis di semua lokasi terbabit dipantau rapi oleh LUAS dan selesai sekitar jam 10.45 malam semalam.

"LUAS juga membuka kertas siasatan terhadap premis terbabit di bawah Seksyen 79 (4) Enakmen LUAS 1999 bagi kesalahan mencemarkan sumber air," katanya.

Katanya, kerajaan negeri memandang serius sebarang permasalahan pencemaran sumber air negeri sama ada ia terbabit ataupun tidak kepada pembekalan air mentah loji rawatan air (LRA).

"Penemuan punca pencemaran air berwarna ini berjaya mengelakkan risiko permasalahan kepada Sungai Kapar Kechil dan seterusnya pencemaran laut Selat Melaka.

"Kerajaan negeri, LUAS dan agensi-agensi berkuasa berkaitan tidak akan berkompromi dan akan mengambil tindakan tegas terhadap aktiviti tanpa kebenaran dan kecuaian mana-mana pihak yang menimbulkan permasalahan dan mencemarkan sumber air," katanya

HUNT (Texas): Lebih 160 orang masih tidak dapat dikesan selepas banjir besar di Texas, kata gabenor negeri pada hari Selasa, menandakan peningkatan mendadak dalam jumlah orang hilang akibat tragedi yang setakat ini meragut 109 nyawa.

Empat hari selepas banjir kilat melanda beberapa daerah Texas, sebahagiannya pada tengah malam, harapan untuk mencari mangsa yang terselamat semakin pudar — dan Gabenor Greg Abbott memberi amaran bahawa senarai mereka yang tidak dapat dikira masih boleh meningkat ketika usaha mencari terus gagal.

“Hanya di kawasan Kerr County sahaja, terdapat 161 orang yang diketahui hilang,” katanya kepada pemberita.

“Kemungkinan besar terdapat lebih banyak lagi dalam senarai itu,” katanya, sambil menambah bahawa angka itu berdasarkan orang yang dilaporkan tidak diketahui oleh rakan, saudara dan jiran.

Kerr County, sebahagian daripada wilayah Texas tengah yang dikenali sebagai “Flash Flood Alley,” mengalami kerosakan paling banyak, dengan sekurang-kurangnya 94 kematian.

Itu termasuk sekurang-kurangnya 27 gadis dan kaunselor yang tinggal di kem musim panas remaja di Sungai Guadalupe.

Aliran air menyapu seluruh kem, menyerbu kabin ketika ratusan orang tidur. – AFP

MARSEILLE, July 9 — A wildfire in southern France yesterday that forced Marseille airport to close and interrupted train traffic has not been fully contained, the country’s interior minister said.

Several forest fires have raged in recent days in southern France, fanning out at speed due to wind and parched vegetation after a heatwave, including yesterday’s just north of France’s second largest city, Marseille.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, during a visit to firefighters in the region, said the fire could be contained overnight if winds weaken, as expected.

Scientists say human-induced climate change is increasing the intensity, length and frequency of extreme heat that fuels forest fires.

The fire started in a vehicle in the area of Pennes-Mirabeau to the north of Marseille, on the road to the airport, roaring across 700 hectares (1,730 acres) by the evening, firefighters said.

It sent plumes of acrid smoke billowing into the sky, causing the airport to close its runways shortly after midday (1000 GMT), a spokesman for the Marseille Provence airport said.

The spokesman later said that the airport would partially reopen at around 9:30 pm and that 54 flights had been cancelled and another 14 redirected.

The website of the SNCF national rail operator showed more than a dozen train trips had been cancelled in and out of the city.

It said rail travel to and from Marseille would remain “highly affected” on Wednesday.

Retailleau said 400 people have been evacuated and 63 houses damaged, with some dozen destroyed. He said about 100 people have suffered light injuries, including from emergency services.

“At the moment that I speak to you there are no deaths, which is remarkable given the extent of the fires,” he said. “But there are all the reasons to think we are headed towards a summer of high risk.”

Marseille Mayor Benoit Payan on X warned residents the fire was now “at the doors of Marseille”, urging inhabitants in the north of the city to refrain from taking to the roads to leave way for rescue services.

The mayor of Pennes-Mirabeau said two housing estates had been evacuated and firefighters had positioned themselves outside a retirement home to fight off approaching flames.

The Marseille Provence airport is the country’s fourth after Charles-de-Gaulle and Orly outside Paris, and Nice.

‘Never seen anything like it’

The fire near Marseille is just the latest to hit France in recent days.

To the west along the Mediterranean coast, near the city of Narbonne, more than 1,000 firefighters from around the country were seeking to contain another blaze.

It had crept across 2,000 hectares (4,900 acres) of trees since starting on the property of a winery on Monday afternoon, emergency services said.

In the village of Prat-de-Cest on Tuesday morning, trees were blackened or still on fire.

As she watched fire trucks drive to and fro, retiree Martine Bou recounted fleeing her home with her cats, tortoises and dog on Monday afternoon before returning.

But her husband, Frederic, stayed all night to hose down the great pines on the other side of the road so the fire would not engulf their home.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. I have never lived next to such an enormous fire,” he told AFP, reporting flames dozens of metres (more than a hundred feet) high.

The fire near Narbonne caused authorities to close the A9 motorway to Spain, but on Tuesday morning they said they were progressively reopening it to traffic. — AFP