Klang Valley prepares for a week without water

KUALA LUMPUR - With just a day to go before a water supply disruption begins here and in Selangor, consumers were busy stocking up on water and adjusting their routines for the upcoming six days.

Kampung Abdullah Hukum resident Saniyah Othman, 51, remained unfazed, saying that she has stocked up enough water for her household use.

She said her take-away kuih business would not be affected, as she prepared most of them at home.

"I don't really use that much water at the stall anyway," said Saniyah, who found out about the disruption through notices posted around her flats.

She said there had never been a problem with water supply in her six years of living at the flats.

"There are four permanent water tanks in my building, and so far, the management has done a good job keeping us informed whenever there is maintenance work or water shortage."

Residents in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur will face water supply disruptions beginning tomorrow following the temporary partial stop-work at the Sungai Selangor Phase 2 treatment plant.

Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) said the scheduled stop-work order would enable the utility to upgrade the plant's switchboard, repair pipelines and replace sluice valves, among others.

The supply disruption will begin at 8am on Tuesday and will last until 9pm on the same day. Supply will resume in stages after 9pm on Tuesday and will be completed by 8am on Sunday, Dec 22.

The move involves 217,694 consumer accounts in Gombak, Petaling, Kuala Lumpur and Klang/Shah Alam areas.

Nor Khairi, a 36-year-old teacher, said while he was optimistic the water supply disruption would not cause too much problems, he did not want to take any chances when it came to stocking up on water.

"The bigger pail cost RM48 (S$19) while the smaller one, RM40 (S$15)," said Nor Khairi, who found out about the disruption from social media and newspapers.

Housewife Norhani Zainuddin, 63, said she had been doing as much laundry as possible before the disruption, adding she was thankful it was still the school holidays, or it would be a chaotic affair to prepare her children for school.

"There had been disruptions in the past, but it had never been a week-long affair!

"It is definitely an inconvenience, but I will make do with whatever water I have for drinking and flushing the toilet," she said, adding she was luckier than her next-door neighbour, who lives with 11 other tenants .

Retired nurse, Mariam Musa, 67, said she planned to dine out during the rest of the week to reduce her water usage.

"I live on the lower floor, but it's still going to inconvenience me."

Like Norhani, Mariam was prioritising her water usage for drinking, cleaning up and for bathing.

The water supply disruption would affect commercial and residential areas in the Klang Valley, from the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) to Bukit Kiara, Bukit Damansara to Sentul, Segambut, Jalan Duta, Kampung Abdullah Hukum to Jalan Klang Lama, Bandar Baru Bukit Jalil to USJ Subang, and areas in Klang and Shah Alam.