JOHOR BARU: The water supply is gradually resuming after an unscheduled cut caused by raw water pollution that affected several treatment plants.
Ranhill SAJ Sdn Bhd said 81% of the disrupted supply has been restored as of 8am on Sunday (Nov 2).
“Water cuts in Senai, Seelong and Bukit Indah, as well as parts of Kota Tinggi and Pontian, have resumed,” it said.
“In Kulai, 85% of supply has recovered, followed by 75% in Kempas and Tebrau, 64% in Skudai, 49% in Gelang Patah and 40% along the Pontian Skudai road,” it said in a Facebook statement on Sunday.
More than 800,000 people were affected after several water treatment plants halted operations due to pollution in Sungai Johor.
“Efforts to provide water through tanker trucks are ongoing to ensure consumers continue to receive supply throughout the incident that occurred on Friday (October 31),” Ranhill SAJ said on Saturday (Nov 1).
“Consumers who are still receiving water supply are advised to store sufficient water,” it added.
Ranhill SAJ said the public can obtain updates through its official complaint channel at 1800-88-7474.
Earlier reports said raw water turbidity in Sungai Johor surged after the sixth washing pond burst at an inland sand mining site in Kota Tinggi.
Johor works, transport, infrastructure and communications committee chairman Mohamad Fazli Mohamad Salleh said monitoring by several agencies detected a significant spike.
He said water turbidity rose to 37,400 nephelometric turbidity units compared with the normal level of around 400 NTU.
“The incident was caused by land-based sand mining when the sixth washing pond burst due to soil movement,” he said.
“As an immediate measure, water release from the Linggiu Dam has been increased to dilute contamination in the Johor River,” he added.
The incident affected operations at Linggiu, Semangar, Sungai Johor and PUB (Singapore) water treatment plants.
Supply was potentially disrupted 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 said.
