SEREMBAN, Dec 13 — The federal government will construct the Sungai Linggi Water Reservoir (TAPS) with a capacity of 250 million litres per day (MLD) by the end of next year.

Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun said TAPS Linggi would serve as a reserve for raw water supply to the Sungai Linggi Water Treatment Plant (LRA) in case of pollution in the river in the future.

He said that this effort is a long-term plan to address water supply issues at the Sungai Linggi LRA in case of closure due to pollution.

"The closure of the Sungai Linggi LRA (recently) was due to pollution. This affected about 42,000 accounts in the Seremban and Port Dickson areas.

"At present, 85 per cent of account holders have received treated water as usual, while the remaining 15 per cent are still in the recovery phase due to areas located at the end of the water reticulation system of Syarikat Air Negeri Sembilan (Sains),” he said after chairing the state executive council meeting here today.

Aminuddin said Sains is still using tanker trucks and static tanks to distribute treated water to affected users.

In addition, he stated that following the pollution issue at the water treatment plant, the Negeri Sembilan Water Regulatory Body (BKSANS), Sains, the State Department of Environment (JASNS), and the National Water Services Commission (SPAN) identified a premises in the industrial area of Seremban 2, suspected of causing pollution to the Sungai Linggi LRA.

"Water samples from the premises were also taken for investigation purposes. During the investigation, the involved agencies focused on the industrial area, truck workshops, sand operation permit areas starting from Pantai area, Seremban 2, Mambau, along the Seremban-Rantau highway leading to the Sungai Linggi LRA,” he said.

The media before this had reported that several areas in Port Dickson and the city experienced disruptions and lack of water supply due to issues with the raw water source smelling of diesel at the treatment plant on the Saturday (December 9) and November 7.

In other developments, Aminuddin said that according to the eKasih data system for impoverished families, the number of hardcore poor in the state has been reduced by up to 923 individuals as of yesterday compared to the 3,350 recorded in February. — Bernama