Selangor faced two water disruptions within a week

Water disruption has been a common issue in Selangor. On July 19, several areas in the state suffered temporary water supply disruption due to odour pollution at the Sungai Selangor raw water source.

The Sungai Selangor Phase 1, 2, and 3 (SSP1, SSP2, SSP3) Water Treatment Plants (WTPs) were shut down for repair works.

Subsequently, the improvement works at the SSP1 WTP which was scheduled to take place on July 23 was put on hold due to the pollution.

Three days after the odour pollution, another water disruption happened in the state. This time, all three Sungai Selangor WTPs along with Rantau Panjang WTP (also owned by Air Selangor) were polluted with diesel. It was the second time in a week for the Sungai Selangor WTPs to be shut down.

According to Air Selangor’s head of Customer Relations and Communication Department Abdul Raof Ahmad, the second pollution was caused by sand digging activities at the upper reaches of the river.

Meanwhile, Menteri Besar of Selangor Amirudin Shari believed the pollution was an act of sabotage as early investigations revealed that about 100 litres of benzene was ‘discharged’ from a sand dredging pontoon that has ceased operations in the past two months.

Overall, Abdul Raof plays a major role in addressing the recent water disruption by providing updates on the repair works. He leads with 481 statements for the past week. On the other hand, Amirudin Shari only gave 113 statements despite being the Menteri Besar of Selangor.