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KUALA LUMPUR: Approximately 1.2 million consumers in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur affected by the ongoing water disruption will have to wait a minimum of four days before regular supply resumes, Air Selangor CEO Suhaimi Kamaralzaman said.
At a press conference on Friday (September 4), Suhaimi said that the water concessionaire could only resume water treatment and pumping in Sungai Selangor. Phase 1, 2, 3 and Rantau Panjang water treatment plants, when the threshold odor number (TON) of the water is measured at 0 TON for three consecutive times.
“As of 2.30 pm, the level of contamination detected is 1 TON and that is an unsafe level. Therefore, the plants are not in operation yet.
“Not everyone understands the magnitude of the problem. This is not a small fry problem, it is a big problem. We don’t want to take 1 TON of contaminated water and process it. We don’t want to give consumers smelly water, ”he said.
He added that the intervals between tests would be 30 minutes.
“We hope it will drop to zero very soon. We are hopeful because it dropped from 3 TON yesterday to 1 TON now. However, I don’t dare to make a prediction as it would depend on the river flow and its dilution levels,” he said.
“Based on our current simulation, it would take a minimum of four days after we start operating the plants again for consumers to start getting their water supply. But we can’t program precisely until we actually start the process, as it would be subject to the water levels in the reservoirs and all that, ”explained Mr. Suhaimi.
According to the UK Water Research Center, the TON of contaminant in water can be determined by adding a volume of uncontaminated water to a volume of contaminated water and then dividing the total volume by the volume of contaminated water.
The more water needed to make the odor undetectable, the higher the TON reading.
READ: Selangor residents reeling from water disruption caused by bad smell
More than 1,292 areas in seven districts have been affected by water interruptions since the early hours of Thursday, after contamination was detected in the raw water source of the four water treatment plants.
Air Selangor said in a statement Thursday that the level of contamination was detected at 3 TON.
Earlier on Friday, Selangor’s Chief Minister Amirudin Shari said that one of the factories behind the cause of pollution in Sungai Selangor has been closed by authorities for two weeks.
“This unscheduled water outage is caused by a factory that is believed to have released a harmful solvent in Sungai Gong. With regard to the contamination that caused the closure of the water treatment plants, the factory in question has been confiscated and closed.
“Efforts to remove water from the source of contamination have been going non-stop since last night to ensure that the water is clean and safe for consumption,” he said.
The prime minister added that efforts are being made to clean the water. This included using activated charcoal to reduce odor, pumping 400 gallons of water from the Bestari Jaya water catchment basin, and releasing water from the Sungai Tinggi Dam to rinse and dilute contaminated water.
He also said that 78 tank trucks, 22 tank trucks, 54 static tanks, 18 local service centers, eight public taps, as well as 23,000 five-liter bottles of drinking water have been distributed to help those affected.
READ: Explainer: What are the implications of dry dams and polluted rivers in Johor?
The Ministry of Water, Lands and Natural Resources said in a statement that evidence has been collected from the alleged location to be analyzed.
“The authorities are awaiting the results of the analysis for more actions and the premise has been suspended for two weeks,” he said.
“Remediation work on the site has begun immediately to ensure that no pollutants are left on the banks of the river or in the main flow of the river.”
