PETALING JAYA: After enduring two lengthy water cuts the last two months, Selangor residents were hit again when another suspected contamination in Sungai Selangor forced Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor) to issue a stop-work order on its Phase 1, 2, 3 and Rantau Panjang water treatment plants.
The latest water cut will affect some 1.2 million accounts in the state.
The contamination was detected at 12.45pm today, it said in a statement.
The unscheduled water cut will affect 1,279 areas in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling, Klang/Shah Alam, Kuala Selangor, Hulu Selangor, Gombak and Kuala Langat.
The water cut is due to a solven ordour detected in Sungai Selangor.
The threshold odour number (TON) was recorded at eight TON at Rantau Panjang water treatment plant. The permissible level is zero TON.
“Efforts to flush contaminants in Sungai Selangor would be done by releasing 300 million litres of water a day from the Sungai Selangor dam and 500 million litres a day at the Sungai Tinggi dam. Additionally, the Selangor Water Management Authority (LUAS) has released 192 million litres of raw water from the KL Larut pond,“ it said.
The new unscheduled water cut in Selangor comes just after households are recovering from two water disruptions - the first in September which was caused by river contamination at Sungai Gong that feeds Sungai Selangor. Several weeks later in October, pollution was detected again. Consumers were affected up to five days and four days in September and October respectively.
Air Selangor did not state the duration of the unscheduled water cut.
In an immediate response, former LUAS chairman Charles Santiago told theSun yesterday that he will raise the matter in Parliament in addition to arranging a meeting with Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari.
“This is ridiculous,“ he said.
“The immediate action which the state can take is to close all factories along Sungai Selangor. It will be an unfair move, but it must be done.
“The authorities must start tackling third party waste management companies too,“ he added.
Santiago had recently told theSun that it is better to have one entity under the federal government to oversee the country’s water management as the state is limited in its resources.
He reiterated that raising the fine in the current law would not put a dent as companies will fork out the amount and continue their operations.
Meanwhile, S. Piarapakan, president of the Association of Water and Energy Research Malaysia (Awer), reiterated his call for a national database to list companies that uses chemicals that can cause pollution.
“The database should be under the Department of Environment’s purview,“ he said, adding that 50% of raw water for Klang Valley comes from the Sungai Selangor water catchment.
“This latest pollution just shows that the wrongdoers are not afraid of the law,“ he added.
A Luas spokesman assured that a team is presently on site and investigations are being conducted.
Culprits who are found to commit an offence related to the supply of treated water and sewerage services can be charged under the Water Services Industry Act 2006 (Act 655) that carries a maximum RM 500,000 fine or a maximum 10 years jail term or whipping or all three.
