Kembangan canal turns crimson, car wash under scrutiny
A car wash company is being investigated after a mysterious red discharge found in a canal in Kembangan was traced back to it.
At least two sightings of the reddish water were reported by members of the public on the evenings of Oct 13 and Oct 17, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said on Oct 23 in response to queries from The Straits Times.
An eyewitness, who wanted to be known only as Mr Chua, said he was walking home on Oct 13 when he saw the red discharge flowing through the canal, which is close to Kembangan MRT station.
“I was surprised when I first saw it as I’ve never seen water in a canal so red before,” the 28-year-old engineer said, adding that he thought it would be present for just a short stretch along the open drain.
“But it stretched for about 400m, and I became curious about what might have been the cause.”
When NEA officers turned up to investigate on the morning of Oct 14 after a heavy rain, they did not discover anything amiss with the water in the canal.
“The dissolved oxygen and pH levels of the water were also found to be in the normal ranges,” the agency said.
However, the bright reddish water was spotted again on the evening of Oct 17.
When NEA officers went to Kembangan again on the morning of Oct 18 to conduct more checks, they managed to trace the red discharge to a company providing car wash and grooming services.
The agency immediately instructed the company to stop the disposal of the discharge and clean up the public drains that were affected by it.
ST has asked NEA for more information about the substance in question.
NEA said it takes a serious view of pollution in Singapore’s waterways and is currently investigating the company for an offence under the Environmental Protection and Management Act.
In 2015, reddish water was also spotted in a canal in Jurong West. It was later identified to be organic solvent and dye, which are commonly used in cleaning, paint and the plastic industry.
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