By Sulyn Chong
SHAH ALAM, Feb 4 — Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor) has detected raw water quality problems in the state’s main water treatment plants (WTP) and the Raw Water Guarantee Scheme (SJAM) has been activated to prevent interruptions to WTP operations.
State executive councillor for infrastructure Izham Hashim said the problem was caused by an increase in ammonia (AN) in raw water which was detected in some WTPs, namely SSP1, SSP2 and SSP3 at 7pm, yesterday.
“The Selangor Water Management Authority (Luas) has activate the Yellow Code based on the Water Source Pollution Emergency Manual (on incidents that have the potential to cause WTP disruptions) and monitoring through sampling with Air Selangor as well as the Department of Environment (DOE) has been done in several locations including Sungai Air Hitam, Sungai Nyamuk and Sungai Tinggi.
“SJAM was immediately activated through alternative raw water pumping to Sungai Selangor from the Hybrid off River Augmentation System (Horas) 600 reservoir at as much as 500 million litres per day (JLH) with a distance of two kilometres (km) and one hour of flow travel to the mouth of the WTPs.
“This was followed by the channelling of KL Larut alternative pond water of 384 JLH by gravity with a distance of 3km and 1.5 hours of flow travel. This alternative pumping of raw water is intended to increase the river’s dilution rate and curb the concentration of AN. The barrage gate at the WTP has also been lowered by Air Selangor to speed up the polluted flow flowing past the WTP inlet,” he said in a statement today.
Izham added that as of yesterday morning, a total of 516 million litres of alternative raw water has been channelled to Sungai Selangor and it has successfully controlled and curbed the pollution.
“Luas monitoring and sampling found the condition of the rivers involved to be in good condition with AN readings decreased and under control,” he said.
Meanwhile, Air Selangor informed that there was no interference with the operation of the WTPs and that it was under control.
SJAM is a long-term measure to guaranteed water resources for the states of Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya which involves the construction of infrastructure to drain pond water more systematically, including the installation of pumps with a capacity of 3000 JLH, the construction of pump houses, raw water pipes and automatically controlled adjustable sluice structure in Sungai Selangor.
The project, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2023, will allow water to continue to be supplied despite quality problems with raw water sources.
Meanwhile, Izham said Luas will continue to carry out close monitoring in the areas of the rivers involved including static monitoring in Sungai Air Hitam.
“Luas is always ready to immediately implement preventive mitigation measures. The implementation of SJAM proves that it is able to help control and curb the quality of water resources in Selangor, which at the same time, avoids WTP operation disruptions and subsequently, water supply disruptions to users,” he said.
SJAM is a state government initiative to deal with the quality and quantity of the state’s water resources. It was introduced in December 2020 with a RM200 million budget for water solutions channelled towards several measures to overcome water supply disruption as well as to ensure the people are provided with continuous water supply.
Previously, RM332 million allocation was approved under SJAM to assure WTPs remain operational in the event water sources become polluted and for 2023, another RM100 million allocation was added for the implementation of this project.
SJAM is one of the solution measures for river pollution incidents and raw water shortage from upstream to downstream of the river which includes components such as, heavier punishment for offenders through the Luas Enactment 1999 amended 2020, 24-hour monitoring and surveillance through the Luas Quick Squad in sensitive areas of water resources in the river basins of Sungai Selangor and Sungai Langat, pumping alternative raw water sources from Horas 600 reservoir in Sungai Selangor and the reservoir (Pond C) in Sungai Semenyih.
