2020: The Year Of Klang Valley Water Cuts
For a country so blessed with the abundance of water, we seem to not be getting a lot of it.
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In case you hadn’t realized, the Klang Valley is hit with yet another water cut a mere 2 days before the end of 2020. It’s only fitting that we have our final dry spell to send off the year after a brilliant rerun of constant water cuts. Here are the highlights.
February
February 7: 57 areas in Gombak faced water cuts when there was a burst pipe at the Hulu Kelang Pump House.
March
March 17: Air Selangor detected odour pollution and suspended the operations of their water treatment plants. Operations only resumed the following day.
April
April 16: 1.2 million residents were affected when four Sungai Selangor water treatment plants had to be shut down due to odour pollution.
(Credit: Amirudin Shari/Twitter)
September
September 3: Pollution at Sungai Gong industrial area caused one of the largest water cuts of the year, lasting almost 6 days. The pollution was traced back to a factory in Rawang, which was shut down immediately. The four owners of the business were arrested and charged.
This water cut in September was such a big deal that it even prompted Datuk Seri Jamal Yunos to reappear in his iconic towel, which he donned in 2016 to protest water cuts as well.
(Credit: Facebook/AstroAwani)
This was also when Malaysians were treated to a tone-deaf Instagram post by the wife of Selangor Menteri Besar, which showed a whole water tanker on the driveway of her house and her whole family taking a dip in their swimming pool, which she has since apologized for.
October
October 4: Four districts faced a water cut during another incident of raw water pollution at Sungai Semenyih.
October 13: A burst pipe in Shah Alam caused a short water cut of 12 hours.
October 17: Another burst pipe at the Sungai Selangor Phase 1 Water Treatment Plant resulted in water cuts in 686 areas.
(Credit: Amirudin Shari/Twitter)
October 19 : Pollution of Sungai Selangor forced a water supply disruption that lasted 5 days.
November
November 10: Chemical pollutants were illegally dumped down toilets, causing a water cut. Four suspects were remanded operating out of a rented premises which had stockpiles of chemical materials classified as scheduled waste.
(Credit: Fareez Azman/Twitter)
December
December 7: 1,274 areas in Klang Valley experienced a water cut in the wee hours of the morning due to pollution at Sungai Selangor. The cut lasted for a single day.
December 29: A burst main pipe led to water cuts in Petaling, Klang, and Shah Alam. However, water services are expected to resume within the day.
December 30: A landslide in Damansara Utama caused a sudden water cut which will affect KL and the Petaling areas. Repairs have already begun but full water supply is only expected to resume next year in 1 Jan 2021.
If you’re wondering what Air Selangor does throughout all these water cuts, it turns out to be quite a lot. Read the full story HERE. They are working to reduce the frequency of water cuts, though, and have bought new reserves of water so that our taps won’t run dry in the event of a drought.
In fact, they’ve even been commended in the international water industry for their work thus far. Highlighted among Air Selangor’s achievements was how they took over the entire state’s water supply in 2019, reversing decades of fragmentation, “smashing targets” for non-revenue water reduction and major replacement, and securing a revenue base with a rationalized tariff structure.
Let’s hope 2021 will be the Year Of Klang Valley Water Supply.
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