Water pollution must end

Out of service: A petrol station in the Klang Valley shutting down its toilets due to the recent water disruptions. — LOW LAY PHON/The Star

KLANG: Unscheduled water cuts are increasingly becoming a bane in highly industrialised Selangor, with the root cause being the discharge or seepage of effluents into raw water sources.

After a brief lull, the issue reared its ugly head again when a type of scheduled substance, poly methacrylic acid (PMAA), leaked out from a storage tank of a factory processing acrylic material for recycling.

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Much to the dismay of millions of consumers, this resulted in the shutdown of the Rantau Panjang and Sungai Selangor phases 1, 2 and 3 (SSP1, SSP2 and SSP3) water treatment plants.

Selangor state exco for public health and environment, Jamaliah Jamaluddin, said this “menace” created mega problems for Selangor residents and businesses.“We are in the midst of implementing the Zero Discharge Policy (ZDP) which will see its soft launch this year. Once in place, we will know more about what kind of effluents are being discharged into rivers.

“With this in hand, we will have a database to work on,” she said, adding that other measures were also being put in place to counter the problem.

The ZDP will also control industries and compel them to recycle their effluents, instead of just dumping it into drains, rivers and water sources.

Jamaliah said the Selangor Water Management Board (Luas), which manages the ZDP, has been carrying out constant monitoring.

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“Luas checks the water quality every 30 minutes in certain areas and water catchment plants,’’ she revealed.

Izham Hashim, who is the state infrastructure and agriculture committee chairman, said various measures were being taken “to keep polluted water away from treatment plants”.

“Polluted water will be diverted from the intake of the treatment plants, and stored water from the plants will be used until the polluted water has flowed away,’’ he said.

He said other upgrades on critical assets of the water treatment plants had also been completed.

These included scheduled maintenance work on the critical infrastructure at SSP1 water treatment plant such as the replacement of essential valves and maintenance on the switchgear.

“These upgrades also ensure that all critical assets and infrastructure function optimally to prevent unscheduled water disruptions that could affect water quality and inconvenience consumers,’’ Izham said.

However, he said it was important to note that such maintenance was primarily to address the plant’s operational reliability rather than directly counter raw water pollution.

Air Selangor chief executive officer Adam Saffian Ghazali, when contacted, said the body came under fire each time there was unscheduled water disruption due to contamination.

“Air Selangor’s role is to treat raw water that comes to us and supply it to consumers,’’ he said, adding that some people did not understand the roles played by different agencies and only blamed Air Selangor for every water disruption incident.

Adam Saffian said the state government’s upcoming Raw Water Guarantee Scheme would play an important role in countering unscheduled water disruptions due to water contamination.

He said sensors would detect signs of anything untoward with raw water, with its flow into the treatment plants immediately diverted.

“Air Selangor will then use its stored raw water supply to be treated and channelled to consumers,’’ he said, adding that the scheme was expected to be operational by the beginning of next year.