Water supply to be fully restored in 3 to 5 days

Four water treatment plants which were closed yesterday due to a diesel spill in Sungai Selangor were restarted early today.

Energy, Green Technology and Water Deputy Minister Mahdzir Khalid said today, water supply at 80 percent of the affected areas, especially low-lying, was expected to gradually recover within three to five days.

Pumping raw water from Sungai Selangor began at the Rantau Panjang water treatment plant at 12.30 this morning, followed by Selangor Phase 3 (SSP3) at 12.40am, Sungai Selangor Phase 1 (SSP1) at 5am, and the Sungai Selangor Phase 2 (SSP2) at 5.30am, respectively.

He was speaking to reporters during a survey at Sungai Selangor Phase 2 in Bestari Jaya.

Mahdzir said about 60 percent of the water supply in the Klang Valley depended on the source of raw water from Sungai Selangor, which was processed by the four water treatment plants.

There is not sufficient water from other water treatment plants to back up the four plants.

Therefore, he said the construction of the Langat 2 water treatment plant that would bring in raw water from Pahang, was vital to ensure stable water supply to consumers in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Selangor.

Mahdzir said the Selangor Water Management Authority (Luas) had appointed a contractor to conduct clean-up works. Luas has sought help from Indah Water Konsortium which sent six tankers to clean up the oil spill near the garbage truck depot and completed the clean-up works at 2.30am today.

Meanwhile, the source of the oil spill was identified as having originated from a garbage truck depot in Jalan Batu Arang, Sungai Bakau yesterday.

Stop-work order

Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim said the Selayang Municipal Council had sealed the premises and issued a stop-work order.

He was speaking at an Aidilfitri open house in Bukit Badong today.

Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) said up to now, the total number of affected consumer accounts had dropped to around 880,000 accounts and was 60 percent of the total consumer accounts in six districts, namely Petaling, Kuala Lumpur, Klang/Shah Alam, Gombak, Kuala Selangor and Hulu Selangor.

Syabas corporate affairs executive director Abdul Halem Mat Som said water supply to the Kuala Langat area was now fully restored since early this morning.

Syabas corporate communications and public affairs department assistant general manager Priscilla Alfred said in a statement that Syabas had despatched 46 lorry tankers and 20 static tanks to affected areas, adding that 505 other static tanks were on stand-by.

She said Johor, Perak and Negri Sembilan had provided 14 lorry tankers to help Syabas.

Meanwhile, the Selangor Department of Environment (DOE) has conducted an immediate investigation into the four water treatment plants to identify the source of the contamination.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister G Palanivel said the probe revealed the oil spill was due to a factory dumping lubricating oil (SW 305) into a drain. 

"The dumped oil was discharged into Sungai Gong and a significant amount flowed into Sungai Selangor, forcing the closure of the four water treatment plants yesterday.

"The factory owner has been instructed to take immediate action to block the drains to prevent the oil from mixing with the water and flowing into Sungai Gong," he said in a statement here today.

Businesses affected

Meanwhile, in Shah Alam, a restaurant cashier told Bernama this morning that there was no water supply from yesterday. Currently, the restaurant depends on its water tank supply.

Abdul Mutalib Syed Muhamad said the lack of water was affecting the restaurant's operations as customers were merely trickling in, unlike before when there was sufficient water.

Another business affected was that of a laundry shop operator in Section 11. Chai, as he wanted to be known only as, said he had no water supply since this morning.

He said some of his clients had stopped sending laundry to his shop when they learnt there was no water supply at his premises.

"The tank water is not enough to wash large quantities of clothes. We are just dry-cleaning and hand-washing today, as this does not require a lot of water," he said.

- Bernama