Water supply to affected areas in Selangor to be restored from Monday (Dec 23)

CYBERJAYA: The water supply to areas in Selangor that were affected by the cuts caused by odour pollution will be restored from Monday (Dec 23) night, says Charles Santiago (pic).

"We expect the water supply to be available by tonight in stages and that the supply will be fully restored in three days," the National Water Services Commission (Span) chairman said at a press conference.

He said that Air Selangor Sdn Bhd's operations at the Sungai Semenyih water treatment plant resumed at 1pm on Monday.

Charles said that water would be channelled to the pipes around 8pm.

The operations of the water treatment plants were stopped at 7.15am on Saturday (Dec 21) after pollution was detected in Sungai Semenyih.

The closure affected 336,930 account holders in 366 locations in Petaling, Hulu Langat, Kuala Langat, and Sepang.

The dumping of waste into manholes in Bandar Bukit Mahkota had forced the closure of the Sungai Semenyih water treatment plant twice in three months.

Oily residue was found in a Bukit Mahkota manhole last week, which LUAS confirmed to be the source of odour pollution that forced the shutdown of the Sungai Semenyih and Bukit Tampoi water treatment plants, as well as the Bandar Bukit Mahkota sewage treatment plant on Saturday.

On the pollution, Charles said that Span would ask local authorities in Selangor to check eateries to ensure these outlets use grease or oil traps, adding that premises which do not install the trap must be made to do so.

He said this was because the waste that was found to have been dumped was fats from kitchens.

"We will also ask local authorities to look into the activities of illegal industries as well as car workshops as waste from these activities were also dumped into the manholes," he added.