Difficult times: A resident of Taman Impian Ehsan in Balakong, Cheras, collecting water from a water tank.
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SHAH ALAM: Residents in Selangor who have been without water for the past few weeks can expect supply every two days.
Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said the “rationing” will start today, when the water company Syabas is due to give details of the exercise.
The “scheduled distribution” – as SPAN, the National Water Services Commission, calls it – will affect Ulu Langat and Kuala Langat, where taps have been dry since Feb 7 in some 42,000 households.
Businesses – including food stalls and restaurants, laundries and hair dressing saloons – in the two districts have also been badly affected by the prolonged supply disruption.
The severe dry spell in the state had caused the concentration of pollutants, in particular ammonia, in the Langat river to be excessively high, forcing the Bukit Tampoi and Batu 11 Cheras treatment plants to be shut down.
Khalid said the affected households were those which received their supply from the Bukit Tampoi, Batu 11 Cheras, Sungai Rasa and the Sungai Selangor Phase 1, 2 and 3 treatment plants.
These last four which get raw water from Sungai Selangor will reduce their intake in stages to protect the reserve in the dam, which is already at critical level, Khalid added after attending the monthly gathering of civil servants here.
It is learnt that the Bukit Tampoi and Batu 11 Cheras plants have a limited amount of treated water under storage that they would supply to consumers during the rationing period.
Khalid said Syabas tankers and static tanks would also be sent to affected areas during the rationing, and added that the exercise would continue until the rainy season, which is not expected until the middle of next month.
If the rainy season came earlier, the rationing would be discontinued, he added.
SPAN said the Selangor Government had ordered Syabas to activate an emergency plan, including scheduled water distribution to consumers in the affected areas.
It had approved the application from Syabas to implement the measure following a meeting of all the parties.
SPAN appealed to consumers in affected areas to “work with Syabas to implement the scheduled water distribution.”
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