We warned them of conditions at water plant: Splash

PUTRAJAYA: Water concessionaire Syarikat Pengeluar Air Sungai Selangor (Splash) has claimed that the Selangor government had been notified numerous times on the long-standing overload at the Sungai Selangor Phase 3 plant which resulted in last week's water disruptions in the state.
In a statement today, Splash said the state government was warned that water pumps in the plant were subjected to a high rate of overuse which would increase the risk of unexpected breakdowns.
"Since 2013, Splash had written several letters to the state government to highlight that its plants were never designed to operate beyond its design capacity on a long-term basis.
"Doing so would cause intrinsic damage to the plants. It would pose a high risk of unexpected breakdowns.
"Therefore, the fact that the other four pumps were under repair during the incident was inconsequential and totally unrelated to the incident or the operations of the plant," the statement said.
The water company also pointed out that the pipe burst which occurred just as the plant was about to resume operations happened after the successful completion of repair works of a damaged check valve which happened ahead of schedule.
"This incident caused extensive structural damage to the surge vessel system. The urgency of restoration was so critical that it required the immediate mobilisation of 50 workmen on site working continuously around the clock.
"It involved the extensive use of equipment - two mobile cranes, three excavators and eight welding sets," Splash said.
Splash also stressed that it provided regular progress updates to officials from water regulator the National Water Services Commission Malaysia (Span) and Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor) who were on site to help monitor the works.
"Splash has always carried out its scheduled maintenance work and has been regularly audited by Span, the latest being in 2017."
Splash also warned that further disruptions may occur due to possible lawsuits stemming from unpaid electricity bills against two of its operations and management firms.
Splash said Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) is threatening to cut off power supply to its plants run by Sg Harmoni Sdn Bhd and Gamuda Water Sdn Bhd over arrears of RM36 million and RM39 million, respectively.
Residents throughout Klang Valley and other parts of Selangor suffered dry taps for almost a week following water disruption exercise due to critical equipment repairs at the SSP3 plant.
This after the scheduled 10-hour water cuts turned into days when the surge vessel system at the plant burst just before water supply could be resumed.