Selangor River Pollution: What you need to know right now

Water pollution in Selangor rivers occurred at least four times this year and has caused water supply disruption for over 1 million consumers in the Klang Valley each time.

Only last week, a 62-year-old man and his son, allegedly behind the raw water source contamination in Sungai Selangor on October 19, were charged at the Sessions Courts for committing mischief by discharging effluents near Sungai Gong in Rawang, disrupting piped water supply to 1.2 million people.

Yesterday, it happened again - operations at four water treatment plants in Selangor were forced to be shut down after authorities detected odor pollution with a reading of about 8 TON (Threshold Odour Number) emanating from Sungai Selangor.

WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE THIS TIME?

• The Selangor Water Management Authority (Luas) said it traced the pollution to an Indah Water Konsortium facility in Rawang.
• However, Indah Water said the pollution was due to illegal dumping of chemicals into its sewerage system.
• Police opened an investigation paper on the incident yesterday.
• Four people linked to the water pollution incident have been arrested. The suspects are two company directors, a 40-year old woman and 43-year old man, and two workers including a foreigner from Bangladesh. They have been remanded for seven days beginning today.

HAS WATER SUPPLY BEEN RESTORED?

• Air Selangor said the Rantau Panjang Water Treatment Plant (LRA) and LRA Sungai Selangor Phases 1, 2, and 3 plants have resumed operations this morning. The odour pollution has been cleared.
• The resumption of operations was after 0 TON reading was recorded three times in a row.
• Air Selangor said 1,279 areas are affected with the unscheduled water supply as at 3:00 pm, 11 November 2020.
• The recovery plan is divided into two groups: The first group consisting of 599 areas is expected to be fully recovered at 3:00 pm tomorrow, 12 November 2020.
• The second group consisting of 680 areas will be fully recovered at 3:00 pm, 13 November 2020.

AN ACT OF SABOTAGE?

• Police are checking the possibility of sabotage after finding 40 barrels containing 4,000 litres of scheduled waste inside a premises suspected to be the source of pollution at the Indah Water Consortium Water Treatment Plant at Taman Velox, Rawang.
• Yesterday, during a debate on the Selangor Development Budget 2021 at the State Legislative Assembly, State Tourism, Environment, Green Technology and Orang Asli Affairs Committee chairman Hee Loy Sian did not rule out the possibility that the sabotage was carried out between 7 am and 10 am yesterday, before the four water treatment plants were shut down at 12.45 pm.

WATER POLLUTION INCIDENTS IN SUNGAI SELANGOR IN 2020, SO FAR

MARCH 17

Water treatment plants in Sungai Selangor (LRA) Phase 1 (SSP1), Phase 2 (SSP2), Phase 3 (SSP3) and Rantau Panjang were forced to stop operations after odour pollution was detected at the raw water intake source in Sungai Selangor. The water supply was fully restored only the next day.

APRIL 16

Four Water Treatment Plant had to be shut down, affecting 1.2 million users in KL, Petaling, Klang, Shah Alam, Kuala Selangor, Hulu Selangor, Gombak and Kuala Langat. Operations resumed the following morning, with the water supply slowly restored to normal starting at noon for the next 24 hours.

SEPTEMBER 18

1,292 areas in the Klang Valley, Petaling, Klang/Shah Alam, Kuala Selangor, Hulu Selangor, Gombak and Kuala Langat experienced an unscheduled water supply disruption, following the halting of operations the water treatment plants in Sungai Selangor Phases 1, 2, 3 and Rantau Panjang, due to odour pollution that was later identified to have come from a factory in Rawang.

OCTOBER 19

Sungai Selangor Water Treatment Plant for Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3 and Rantau Panjang had to be shut down immediately due to contamination of raw water resources detected in Sungai Selangor. This has resulted in unscheduled water supply disruption involving 1,196,457 accounts covering 1,292 areas in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling, Klang / Shah Alam, Kuala Selangor, Hulu Selangor, Gombak and Kuala Langat.