1.2 MILLION FOLK WITHOUT WATER
Supply will be restored in 4 days when treatment plants are operational, says Air Selangor CEO
NEARLY 1.2 million water account holders in Klang Valley will experience dry taps for at least four more days following the Sungai Selangor odour pollution. Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor) chief executive officer Suhaimi Kamaralzaman said water supply would resume only when the Threshold Odour Number (TON) at the Rantau Panjang and Sungai Selangor water treatment plants Phases 1, 2, and 3 dropped to zero for three consecutive readings.
“The water treatment plants cannot operate until a zero TON reading is achieved for three times in a row.
“The readings are taken every 30 minutes. Consumers will start receiving water after a minimum of four days when the water treatment plants are operational,” he said yesterday.
TON is a calculation to measure odour rate in water. Water treatment plants can only release odourless water with a zero TON value. It is determined by diluting a sample of the odorous water with odourfree water until the least definitely perceptible odour is achieved.
Suhaimi said the TON reading had improved from three TON on Thursday to one TON up to 2.30pm on Friday.
“This is a 24-hour shutdown, so consumers can understand the magnitude of the problem. We are taking this very seriously and monitoring the river. It (this disruption) has caused work to stop for more than 24 hours and the recovery process is expected to take longer to ensure clean water supply is resumed to affected
consumers.
“We want clean water to get to the consumers as their health and safety are paramount to Air Selangor.”
He said the odour pollution hampered Air Selangor from distributing 2,767 million litres per day (MLD) of water to consumers in 1,292 areas in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling, Klang/Shah Alam, Kuala Selangor, Hulu Selangor, Gombak and Kuala Langat.
He said Air Selangor would publish a water restoration schedule when the water treatment plants were operational.
Among other factors Air Selangor would need to consider, he said, were the reservoir levels, as well as the river’s flow and dilution factors.
“(Once the supply is restored), we hope consumers will use water prudently.”
Suhaimi said water supply would continue to be distributed through water tankers and consumers were advised to get water supply from public taps and local
service centres, which will operate 24 hours until supply was fully recovered.
“Public tap locations have been added to help consumers get alternative water supply.”
He said Air Selangor would update notices of unscheduled water supply disruptions via its communication channels, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the www.airselangor.com website.
“Users are encouraged to download the Air Selangor application at Google Play or Apps Store for updates.”
A total of 1,196,457 accounts had been affected by the unscheduled water disruption due to malodorous effluent pollution by a machinery maintenance factory in Rawang.
Preliminary investigations by the Selangor Water Management Authority revealed that the factory had failed to store oil waste according to the conditions set.
The factory, a repeat offender of the offence, has since been shut down.