JOHOR BARU: Close to 800,000 people have been affected by an unscheduled water disruption after the operations of several water treatment plants (LRA) were affected due to pollution in Sungai Johor.
A Ranhill SAJ spokesman said the company is in the midst of restoring water supply in the affected areas and advised the public to save water.
“Efforts to provide water supply through tanker trucks are ongoing to ensure consumers continue to receive water throughout the raw water pollution incident that occurred on Friday (Oct 31).
“Consumers who are still receiving water supply are advised to store sufficient water,” the water operator said on Facebook Saturday (Nov 1).
It added that areas affected by the disruption include Tiram, Tebrau, Kempas, Iskandar Puteri and Bukit Indah.
Ranhill SAJ also noted that the Semangar water treatment plant, which was among those affected, is expected to gradually reach full operational capacity on Saturday, while the Linggiu plant has resumed full operations.
“The raw water quality in Sungai Johor continues to be closely monitored to ensure all LRAs can operate at optimum levels,” it said.
The water operator also urged the public to obtain updates on the matter through its official complaint channel at 1-800-88-7474.
It was earlier reported that the turbidity level of raw water in Sungai Johor had surged significantly following the bursting of the sixth washing pond at an inland sand mining site in Kota Tinggi.
Johor works, transport, infrastructure and communications committee chairman Mohamad Fazli Mohamad Salleh said monitoring by the Johor Water Regulatory Body, the Irrigation and Drainage Department, the Environment Department, the National Water Services Commission and Ranhill SAJ found that water turbidity had spiked to 37,400 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU), compared with the normal level of around 400 NTU.
“The incident was caused by land-based sand mining activities carried out by a local company when its sixth sand washing pond burst due to soil movement.
“As an immediate measure, water release from the Linggiu Dam has been increased to dilute the contamination in the Johor River,” he said.
The incident affected operations at several water treatment plants, including Linggiu, Semangar, Sungai Johor and PUB (Singapore), potentially disrupting water supply in parts of Kota Tinggi, Johor Baru, Pontian and Kulai.
“The affected areas include parts of Senai, Skudai, Seelong, Felda Linggiu, Petri Jaya and Lima Kedai,” he added.
