KUALA SELANGOR: The Environment and Water Ministry has identified the areas from where the pollution at the Sungai Selangor took place, which in turn resulted in water supply disruption to 1,292 areas in the Klang Valley today.
Its minister, Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, said initial investigations conducted by Air Selangor detected a solvent-like odour emanating from the river.
He said, however, the investigation to identify the real cause was still undergoing.
"The samples were collected and had been sent to the laboratory. We have identified the suspected culprits... two or three (of them), from industrial areas.
"If we look at the modus operandi, the incident normally occurs at midnight or during weekends when the officers-in-charge are not on duty. Even though we have personnel monitoring, it is impossible to be on the ground around the clock due to geographical factors, and they (the culprits) are taking advantage of that," he said.
Tuan Ibrahim was speaking to reporters after monitoring the situation at Sungai Selangor phase 2 water treatment plant, here.
He said the affected water treatment plants were expected to resume operations within 24 hours.
"The level of threshold odour number (TON) is very low now. Insyallah, everything will back to normal in 24 hours."
Air Selangor has shut down its Sungai Selangor Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3 and Rantau Panjang water treatment plants (LRA) after discovering at 2am today that their raw water sources were polluted.
In a statement, Air Selangor said the move will cause water supply disruption to 1,196,457 account holders in 1,292 areas in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling, Klang, Shah Alam, Kuala Selangor, Hulu Selangor, Gombak and Kuala Langat starting today.
Water treatment plants are only allowed to operate when the reading is 0 TON.
Meanwhile, Tuan Ibrahim said his ministry was looking for a long-term solution to the water supply disruption issue.
"We must have alternative water sources when similar incidents pccur as we never know when pollution will occur. We are looking at building more taps and obtaining water from other sources.
"For example, we are considering pumping water from Putrajaya lake if pollution takes place in Sungai Semenyih. We want to minimise the possibility of water disruption when such incidents occur. We are also looking at increasing the water reserve margin." he said.