JOHOR BARU (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – Five water treatment plants in Johor that were shut down in mid-week due to high level of ammonia pollution along Sungai Sayong and Sungai Johor are up and running again.

The five plants are Sayong 1 and Sayong 2, Semanggar, Sungai Johor and Tai Hong.

Johor International Trade, Investment and Utility Committee chairman Jimmy Puah Wee Tse said even though the plants were fully operational, the water supply to the affected areas would still take some time to be at full capacity.

He said the Tai Hong water treatment plant, which began operations on 11pm on Friday (April 5), could only supply treated water to residents in stages, starting at 6am on Saturday.

PUB, Singapore’s national water agency, said on Thursday it stopped treatment operations at its waterworks in Johor due to the high ammonia levels found in the Johor River. It has not made any updates since.

Johor’s Mr Puah said as of 4pm on Saturday, about 24,713 accounts of Ranhill SAJ, the Johor water supply company – or almost 123,565 users – were still affected due to the pollution.

He said most areas have started to get their water supply, except for those in Kempas, Taman Bukit Indah and Taman Desa Cemerlang housing estates.

“The state government, through Johor Water Regulatory Body (Bakaj) and Ranhill SAJ, is working to restore water as normal to consumers,” he added.

Mr Puah urged those that still affected by the incident to be patient, as supply would be fully restored by Saturday tonight.

On Wednesday, high levels of ammonia pollution were detected in Sungai Sayong after a reservoir at a biocomposite centre next to a palm oil refinery burst.

Sungai Sayong is one of the creeks that supplies raw water to Sungai Johor.

The Sayong 1 and Sayong 2 water treatment plants had to be shut down, as it could not process raw water to be treated due to high levels of ammonia.

The closure of the five water treatment plants have caused a disruption on water supply to three districts – Johor Baru, Kulai and parts of Kota Tinggi.

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