Over 6m in Selangor face another water disruption

Puchong 5 oct 2020, Residents of Taman Wawasan in Puchong collect water from an Air Selangor water truck following water disruption again in certain parts of Selangor and Putrajaya due to contamination of Sungai Semenyih. (Pics by Razak Ghazali/TMR)

Air Selangor has terminated work at Sungai Selangor WTP due to smell of solvent pollution at the river

by HARIZAH KAMEL / pic by RAZAK GHAZALI

OVER six million people or 1.14 million water account holders in the Klang Valley are once again hit by another water disruption due to pollution.

This is the ninth water disruption in the state for the year, and fourth within three months.

Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd has terminated work of the Sungai Selangor Water Treatment Plant (WTP) due to the smell of solvent pollution at Sungai Selangor.

This includes its Phases 1, 2, 3 and Rantau Panjang WTP as a result of pollutants at its raw water sources yesterday noon.

The suspension of these four plants is causing an unscheduled water supply disruption involving 1.14 million accounts covering 1,279 areas in Kuala Lumpur (KL), Petaling, Klang, Shah Alam, Kuala Selangor, Hulu Selangor, Gombak and Kuala Langat, where water supply was halted since 6.00pm yesterday.

Efforts to dilute the solvents and “flushing” of contaminants found in Sungai Selangor have been done by releasing water from the river’s dam of 300 million litres per day (MLD) and the Sungai Tinggi dam of 500 MLD.

Meanwhile, PKR said its political bureau will meet today to discuss the rampant water disruption in the state lately.

PKR said in a statement that it views the issue seriously and urged the state government and its agencies to resolve it as soon as possible.

Separately, Indah Water Konsortium Sdn Bhd (IWK) denied allegations that the company is responsible for the latest disruption.

IWK CEO Narendran Maniam said the releasing of final effluent was halted since last Thursday after IWK detected some elements of illegal waste dumped into the sewerage system.

“IWK also had to carry out further treatment by using enzymes to neutralise the process. Furthermore, during this period, we had to treat the incoming wastewater offsite.

“When we stopped releasing the effluent last week, our team immediately informed all relevant authorities about the illegal elements which came into our plant,” he said in a statement, adding that the company has lodged a police report over the matter.

The Selangor Water Management Board has released raw water through the KL Larut pond pumping operation with a capacity of 192 MLD for the same purpose.

“Air Selangor fully understands the situation of consumers who need clean water, especially during the increase in Covid-19 cases and the implementation of Conditional Movement Control Order, by taking all efforts to minimise the impact of disruption to affected consumers,” it said in a statement yesterday.

Information on the scheduled water supply disruption will be updated from time to time through all Air Selangor communication mediums, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, app and website.