SELANGOR’S water authority is unable to say when water supply to some 300,000 consumers will resume as it continues to determine the source of the contamination in the river that feeds the Sg Semenyih and Bukit Tampoi water treatment plants.

Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor) chief executive office Suhaimi Kamaralzaman said as at 12.30pm today, the river’s TON (threshold odour number) remains high.

“As of 12.30pm today, the reading at the Sg Semenyih plant is at nine TON and Bukit Tampoi is at eight TON,” he told a press conference at the plant.

The water treatment plants can only restart when the odour pollution reading is at zero TON.

In the past 20 hours, Air Selangor has not been able to produce the usual 602 million litres of water to be supplied to consumers in 274 areas.

Since 8am, Air Selangor has deployed 64 water tankers to critical premises, schools and residential areas. Fourteen static tanks, local charging stations (7) and public taps (10) have also been provided for affected users.

The disruption covers consumers in four districts – Petaling, Hulu Langat, Kuala Langat and Sepang.

The latest shutdown comes hardly a month after a similar incident left households with dry taps for six days.

Environment and Water Minister Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man had yesterday said initial investigations found the polluted water was flowing to Sg Semenyih from Sg Batang Benar, which runs close to the Nilai industrial area in Negri Sembilan.

The public can stay updated on the latest developments through Air Selangor’s social media channels and website, as well as through its mobile app.

Last month, 1.2 million consumers in the Klang Valley were left without water when four water treatment plants, namely Sg Selangor Phase, 1, 2 and 3, as well as Rantau Panjang, had to cease operations due to river pollution.

A machinery maintenance factory was suspected of dumping pollutants into Sg Gong, which feeds Sg Selangor.

Four brothers were charged with polluting the river. – October 5, 2020.