Water supply to resume on Sunday
IJOK: Klang Valley residents will have to wait until Sunday for their water supply to return to normal, following the damage to the Sungai Selangor Phase 3 (SSP3) water treatment plant here on Tuesday.
The delay is expected to affect 563,622 account holders, who have been dealing with a lack of water supply since Tuesday.
Although the Selangor government said repair on the SSP3 plant was being done round the clock, water supply will be restored in stages to consumers in only six districts, which are Petaling, Klang/Shah Alam, Gombak, Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Langat and Hulu Selangor.
Kuala Langat and Hulu Selangor are expected to recover fully by 6am on Saturday, while Petaling, Klang/Shah Alam, Gombak and Kuala Lumpur are scheduled to receive water supply at 6am the following day.
Selangor Infrastructure, Public Utilities and Agro-based Industry committee chairman Zaidy Abdul Talib said the damage at the plant involved five pipes measuring 1,100mm, two of which were badly damaged.
“The incident occurred when the workers, handled by Syarikat Pengeluar Air Sungai Selangor Sdn Bhd (SPLASH), were resuming the plant’s operations after critical repair works at the pump house were completed yesterday (Tuesday).
“As a result, the state government has instructed Pengurusan Air Selangor (Air Selangor) to assist SPLASH in speeding up the repair works and reduce the impact of the supply interruption on the people.
“The repair works are being done continuously by 10 teams and are expected to be completed by 6pm tomorrow,” he said.
On Tuesday, five Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) and SPLASH workers were injured when the surge vessel system at the plant malfunctioned, triggering an explosion at 5pm.
All the victims were taken to a private hospital in Rawang.
Zaidy said the critical repair works at the plant before this were done by SPLASH to fix the valve at pipe No. 3, after receiving approval from the National Water Services Commission (SPAN).
“The problem was detected only after Air Selangor found an irregularity in the Bukit Tadun balancing pond on Jan 26, which stemmed from the lack of clean water being pumped from the SSP3 treatment plant.
“Air Selangor management tried to meet the plant management to obtain feedback, but failed, and instead reported the matter to SPAN.
“As a result, an investigation was conducted on Feb 5, where it was found that four clean water pumps had malfunctioned and had sustained damage.”
He said SPLASH applied to stop the plant’s operations, but to avoid any problems arising due to the Chinese New Year celebration, SPAN agreed that the repair works be conducted on Tuesday.
The difficulty in repairing the four pump units is believed to be due to the lack of expert manpower in SPLASH.
SSP3 treatment plant manager Azman Abd Aziz said the repair had to be done in stages and could not be completed in a short period.
He said pump three, which had a damaged valve, had been fully repaired, while pump five, which had been damaged since December 2016, was undergoing repair.