Share |

Tuesday, 7 September 2010

Contamination triggers Semenyih water plant shutdown

PETALING JAYA, Sept 7 — Some 1.2 million residents or 300,000 households throughout the Petaling, Hulu Langat, Sepang and Kuala Langat districts will be affected following the shutting down of the Semenyih water treatment plant at 1.40am this morning from contamination.

It is understood that operations at the Semenyih plant have been suspended due contamination of Sungai Kembong, from which the plant draws fresh water, by a nearby landfill.

In an immediate response, Syabas said that the raw water from the river in Selangor was contaminated due to leachate leaking from a breached dyke in the landfill.

Leachate contains both dissolved and suspended material drained from a landfill.

“The plant was closed immediately upon detecting high content of ammonia in the water, at 6.41mg per litre, which is above the health safety standard of 1.5mg per litre, put into place by the health ministry.

“A yellow alert emergency plan has been into place. We are now trying to redistribute water from other treatment plants to the affected areas,” said Syabas in a statement today.

Syabas said that although it had prepared “32 water tankers and 300 water tanks” to supply water to the affected residents, not all residents may have access to the supply as the affected areas were “large.”

“However, since the areas affected are large, the capacity to deliver water may be limited,” he said.

The plant is operated by Konsortium ABASS Sdn Bhd, a state government subsidiary.

No comments: