JOHOR BARU: Tens of thousands of people continue to suffer from a lack of water, even though two of the four water treatment plants have resumed operations after being shut down since Friday due to pollution from sand mining activities along Sg Johor.
The dry taps since Oct 31, were affecting more than a million consumers across four districts, namely Johor Baru, Kota Tinggi, Kulai and Pontian.
The dire situation has caused people to frantically rush to shops and supermarkets to snap up bottles of mineral water, as many are worried that the water cuts could be prolonged.
A resident known as Rosli Hassan, 48, from Tebrau, said that recovery numbers being put up on the water concessionaire’s social media were pointless if people still did not have water for more than 48 hours.
“In some places, some do not have water for longer. I hope that the state government takes serious attention and goes after the polluters of our water resources,” said the father of five, who felt that the water concessionaire was proactive in dispatching water tankers to the affected areas as soon as taps went dry.
Another local resident, known as Wan from Taman Impian Emas in Skudai, said that they had not had water since Saturday (Nov 1).
“It has brought a lot of hardship to my family and me, especially when we have elderly people living in the house,” she said, urging the concessionaire to help restore the water supply to their homes as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Johor works, transport, infrastructure, and communications committee chairman Mohamad Fazli Mohamad Salleh said that so far, only the Linggiu water treatment plant with about 846 water account holders has been fully restored.
“As for the Semangar water treatment plant, that too was now operational, but so fa,r only half of the 213,683 account holders have started getting water as of 7.30pm on Sunday (Nov 2).
“We expect the recovery period to take at least 12 hours for water to be fully restored,” he said, adding that those affected were mainly in Kota Tinggi and Kulai.
Mohamad Fazli added that, as for the Sg Johor water treatment plant, which has been shut down since 10 pm on Oct 31, they were waiting for the nephelometric turbidity units (NTU) to drop to 900 before starting operations.
“At the moment the NTU is 1,330 as of 8.30pm on Sunday,” he said, adding that the water treatment plant supplies water to 191,275 account holders in Johor Baru, Pontian and Kota Tinggi.
He added that the Taihong water treatment plant, which was shut off since 4am on Nov 1, had affected 49,953 account holders in Johor Baru and Kota Tinggi.
Mohamad Fazli added that the state government was providing water in 13 locations in the affected areas, namely in Taman Pelangi Indah, Taman Desa Tebrau, Hospital Sultan Ismail (2 locations), Pasar Khamis in Ulu Tiram, SK Taman Sri Tebrau and Bangunan Sultan Iskandar Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complex (BSI).
Also in Taman Selesa Jaya A and B, Jalan Putra 2 in Kulai, Jalan Puyuh in Bandar Putra, UTM mosque and Jalan Serunai 11 in Taman Saleng.
