(Nov 9): Water supply from Bukit Sagu and Bukit Goh in Kuantan, Pahang, might already be contaminated with heavy metals as a result from bauxite mining in the area, said Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh.

The PKR lawmaker raised this possibility after seeing evidence of miners washing the aluminum ore upstream of rivers.

"I have surveyed the area at Bukit Sagu and Bukit Goh which showed that bauxite washing activity was taking place upstream of rivers that supply water to the treatment plants and Bukit Sagu and Bukit Goh," Fuziah said in a statement issued to The Malaysian Insider yesterday.

"This raises concerns about the possibility of drinking water contamination for the residents of Bukit Sagu and Bukit Goh. The presence of heavy metals such as aluminum can cause health complications."

Rampant bauxite mining began last year, with most of it being supplied to China.

Indiscriminate mining, and transportation of the ore from the mines to the port at Kuantan, has caused air pollution, caking everything in red dust.

National news agency Bernama recently reported that after a crackdown by Pahang authorities, only 11 mining operators were granted permission to extract bauxite and to transport and export the mineral in the state.

Fuziah, who chairs the anti-bauxite contamination lobby group, Gabungan Menentang Pencemaran Bauksit, said they have asked the Health Department to investigate and test the water quality at the Bukit Goh and Bukit Sagu treatment plants.

The findings must be disclosed to the public, she added.

The state's Department of Land and Mines should also be more responsible and disallow bauxite washing from being held near rivers as a matter of public health, she said.

Fed up with the situation, more than 2,000 Kuantan residents signed a petition recently calling for the matter to be debated in Parliament, demanding that bauxite export permits be suspended immediately as their children were falling sick.

Fuziah has in the past urged the authorities to issue proper guidelines on bauxite mining in Pahang, which is rich in the ore used to make aluminum.

The New Straits Times reported recently that bauxite mining was too lucrative for the state to give up: this year, some RM750 million was generated from its production to date. The state government collected RM37 million in royalties from the mining operators. – The Malaysian Insider