Singapore monitoring East Johor Strait after two pollution incidents

SINGAPORE: Singapore authorities are “closely monitoring” the East Johor Strait following two pollution incidents, including a palm oil spill in the coastal waters off Kampung Pasir Putih in Johor.

The other incident affected the Johor River and was caused by sand mining activities, said Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) on Saturday (Nov 1). PUB has temporarily suspended operations at its Johor River Waterworks.

Both incidents are not connected. 

NEA is in touch with Johor’s Department of Environment and “understands that the sources of pollution from both incidents have been contained and stopped”.

“Oil cleanup is also ongoing and most of the palm oil has been cleaned up,” said the agency in a Facebook post on Saturday afternoon.

It added that water quality in Singapore has been normal. Singapore’s shoreline and fish farms are unaffected.

The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) is working closely with fish farms in the East Johor Strait to take the necessary preventive measures, while the National Parks Board (NParks) has not seen any impact on biodiversity-rich sites at Pulau Ubin, Coney Island, Pasir Ris Park and Changi Beach Park.

PUB is closely monitoring water quality at Singapore’s coastal reservoirs near the East Johor Strait, and there have so far been no sightings of palm oil near the country’s tidal gates.

“We do not expect any impact to operations at our desalination plants, which are located in the southern part of Singapore,” said PUB.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore patrol craft that are equipped with absorbent materials and oil recovery equipment are on standby to be activated, if required.