One of the biggest headaches, whenever we have water disruption, is that once the water treatment plant starts working, it takes at least 2 days for the treated water to reach our homes.
The reason for the delay is due to the number of water treatment processes that need to be done before the water can be released to the end consumers. Those homes on hills like mine take even longer due to the lower water pressure. Image source: Dwyer
Read these first:-
- Water Pollution 2020: Some Bad News, Some Good News to Ponder
- Water Pollution 2020: Why We Are Not Punishing Everyone For Water Disruptions?
- National Security 2019: Treat Water Pollution as Terrorist Attack!!
- National Security 2020: Part 2 – Treat Water Pollution as Terrorist Attack!!
If one is following Air Selangor on Twitter, you will know there are countless angry messages flying around since the end of last month. This is because was 2 major water disruptions happened within 2 days gap frame.
Frankly speaking, it is a record of sort for the year 2021 – other than a scheduled water disruption for pipe reticulation cleaning works back in April 2021, there was no other water disruption for the whole year until now. That meant 8 months of uninterrupted water supply despite the dry days.
But now the gremlins are back in action.
The first reported water disruption in Twitter was on 31st August 2021, around 12.30 pm but this was quickly resolved by 8.47 pm on the same day. It took more than a day for the water supply to be fully restored. Air Selangor confirmed this via Twitter on 2nd September 2021, at about 7.27 am.
Personally, this disruption did not impact us as surprisingly we still had water at home.
The second reported water disruption in Twitter was on 3rd September 2021, around 8.01 pm. This time, the water supply at home definitely stopped on the dot on 3rd September, around 11 pm. The pollution took some time to resolve i.e. the next day, at about 7.38 am.
Full water supply is expected to be done on 6th September 2021, 6.00 am but thanks to the fast effort from Air Selangor, they managed to recover more than 24 hours earlier on 5th September 2021, 7.00 am.
Just see this image from Google Map of the 2 murky, muddy, milk-tea like rivers (Langat River on the left) that passes by the Semenyih Water Treatment Plant 2 (in construction stage in the photo).
Frankly speaking, the rivers that supply the raw water for the water treatment plants are not in good condition and passes through many commercial and industrials areas (Imagine source: Google Map). This itself causes the rivers to be easily polluted without any detection especially if this was done at night.
Higher fines and the threat of mandatory jail has not deterred greedy, irresponsible people from discharging harmful chemicals and waste into the rivers that provide the raw supply for millions of consumers & businesses.
This snapshot from Google Map shows the potential leakages that can cause pollution into the river – deforestation/land works, factories by the river and external drainage that feed into the river.
The only way to reduce the incidents of pollution would be to wall up the entire river from start with high power electric fence or high walls and until the water treatment plant. That will be costly but if these pollution incidents do not stop, then it may be the last resort to protect these valuable water sources.
At the same time, illegal factories will need to go irrespective they cause pollution to the river or not. The fact is they are already illegal to start with and they often will not have proper discharge procedures or equipment. Another is to add sensors and more drone surveillance to early detect the pollution. The authorities should also look at relocating water treatment plants into gazetted forest areas, nearer to the source of water into the rivers.
Or just have a get-to-gather session between the criminals who polluted the rivers and the residents who had to suffer from days without water. Put both in a closed room and let the residents have a free for all go at these criminals. If these criminals make it out alive, the experience alone will keep them in check and prevent them from polluting in the future.