SYARIKAT Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas) said it had cleaned 40 of the 307 reservoirs projected in the cleaning programme in 2008 while the rest were resheduled as the water quality in the reservoirs complied with minimum standards after scheduled inspections.
Syabas CEO Datuk Ruslan Hassan said the company had conducted an inspection programme to determine whether the reservoirs needed to be cleaned again in 2008 after the completion of the first cycle of reservoir cleaning.
He said based on the inspection carried out by the company, only 40 reservoirs needed to be cleaned urgently due to their poor water quality.
“With regard to the other reservoirs, the Government decided to put the programme on hold because in early 2008, the decision was made to restructure the water sector in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, which led to the freeze of all Capex (capital expenditure) works.
It added that water sampling exercises conducted by both the Health Ministry and Syabas at 1,084 sampling stations throughout Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya in 2008 showed 99.23% compliance with the water quality standards issued by the ministry. A total of 205,218 samples were tested.
On the remaining samples that were non-compliant, Syabas said it had reported to SPAN that it was due to the presence of aluminium and fluoride, which could not be treated by the water treatment plants and that it was not due to any failure of Syabas.
There are 856 active reservoirs throughout Selangor. Of these, it was found after detailed inspection that 687 reservoirs required cleaning as reported to the Auditor-General’s office.
“Cleaning of the reservoirs was manually done even though there was new technology available in the form of robotic cleaning equipment.
“This. however, could not be used because of the high level of sludge in the reservoirs given that most of the reservoirs had never been cleaned before the privatisation.
“Some of the reservoirs are new and have just been handed over to Syabas by developers, and therefore no cleaning is required,” Ruslan said.
Meanwhile, Puncak Niaga (M) Sdn Bhd (Puncak) is responsible for managing 36 treated water reservoirs or balancing reservoirs, which form part of the facility for the 29 water treatment plants (WTPs) it operates.
The cleaning of reservoirs managed by Puncak Niaga is based on its Treated Water Reservoir Water Quality Monitoring Programme.
The progreamme, which is conducted every three months, monitors the water quality in the reservoir as well as the sediment accumulation.
Puncak Niaga managing director Datuk Matlasa Hitam said the water quality at the Sungai Sireh reservoir and other reservoirs operated by the company met the Health Ministry’s drinking water quality standards and hence it was not necessary for cleaning to be carried out.
“A total of nine reservoirs were cleaned in 2008 while in 2009, three reservoirs had been cleaned and this cleaning was established based on the monitoring programme,” Matlasa said, adding that Puncak Niaga took over the operations of the Sungai Sireh water treatment plant in April 2007.
Meanwhile, Konsortium ABASS Sdn Bhd said that it had carried out cleaning exercises on both of the balancing reservoirs under the Sungai Semenyih Water Treatment Plant.
The company, which is responsible for cleaning the Sungai Semenyih Water treatment plant, had conducted cleaning exercises at both reservoirs in 2005, 2007 and 2008.
“Therefore the statement that the balancing reservoir for the Sungai Semenyih water treatment plant had not gone through the cleaning exercise for more than 10 years is not correct,” said Konsortium Abass chief operating officer Abas Abdullah.
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