Message claiming Selangor water plants back online is fake

A widely circulated message claiming that four water treatment plants in Selangor have been put back in operation is false.

In a statement, the Selangor Water Management Authority (Luas) denied that the Sungai Selangor Phase 1, 2, and 3, and Rantau Panjang water treatment plants would resume operation at 8pm today.

“Luas emphasises that the information is false. The message that was circulated claimed that the pollution at Sungai Gong had been fully resolved.

“The spread of the misinformation confuses the public considering that the pollution incident affects the water supply to consumers,” it said in a statement today.

Any message regarding Luas’ odour pollution monitoring results that is not accompanied by an official statement from the authority is untrue, it added. 

Earlier, variants of the same message were widely circulated, including by Environment and Water Minister Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man’s Facebook page and Perlabuhan Klang assemblyperson Azmizam Zaman Huri’s service centre.

The message purports to be water sampling results taken this evening at three locations along Sungai Gong, as well as the water inlet at the Rantau Panjang water treatment plant.

It claimed that all four samples have no detectible levels of odour pollution, with a threshold odour number (TON) of zero.

In a separate statement, Air Selangor said the four affected water treatment plants have yet to resume operation.

“Sampling at the water inlet up to 8.30pm today still shows pollution at one TON. The water treatment plants can only operate when pollution is at zero TON.

“Air Selangor advises users to obtain official information through official publications or Air Selangor interactive channels, and not spread misinformation regarding the disruption,” it said.

The pollution that has forced the shutdown of the four water treatment plants since yesterday is believed to have originated from a factory in Sungai Gong that is a repeat offender.

This has cut water supply to 1.2 million consumers in parts of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, which Air Selangor earlier said would take four days to restore. - Mkini