Patience runs out as taps go dry

PETALING JAYA: People in the Klang Valley have reached boiling point after 1,139,008 account holders found their taps dry once again following a contamination of water sources, less than three weeks after the last supply disruption.

There have been 10 unscheduled water cuts this year alone, with odour pollution responsible for six cases on March 17, April 16, Sept 3, Oct 4, Oct 19 and Nov 10.

The remaining four incidents were due to repairs and upgrade works on Feb 7, June 11, July 14 and Aug 11.

According to Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd, pollution was detected at its water treatment plants in Sungai Selangor Phase 1,2 and 3 and Rantau Panjang at 12.45pm yesterday, forcing the closure of the treatment plants.

Air Selangor said a total of 1,279 areas in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling, Klang, Shah Alam, Kuala Selangor, Hulu Selangor, Gombak and Kuala Langat were affected, where water supply was shut at 6pm.

Air Selangor stopped short of saying when supply would be restored to Klang Valley users.

As at 2.30pm, the threshold odour number (TON) was recorded at eight TON at the Rantau Panjang water treatment plant and four TON at Phase 1,2 and 3 of the Sungai Selangor water treatment plants.

It added that efforts to flush contaminants in Sungai Selangor would be done by releasing 300 million litres of water a day from the Sungai Selangor dam and 500 million litres a day at the Sungai Tinggi dam.

A water treatment plant can only resume operations once TON is measured at zero for three consecutive times.

According to the Selangor Water Management Authority (LUAS), the source of the pollution might be solvents that were found in Sungai Selangor

This caused operations at the water treatment plants in Phase 1,2 and 3 and Rantau Panjang to be stopped from 12.20pm to 12.45pm.

The last unscheduled water cuts at the same water treatment plants took place merely three weeks ago on Oct 19, where taps in 1,196,457 accounts ran dry for four days before supply was restored in phases on Oct 22.

The authorities have been consistently criticised by Malaysians over the rampant water disruption in the Klang Valley, where many called for stiffer penalties against those who illegally dispose of pollutants into rivers.

Air Selangor will release further information on the unscheduled water disruption on all of its channels including through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts, as well as on the Air Selangor mobile App and its website www.airselangor.com.