JOHOR BARU, Jan 6 — Water supply to the 35,000 consumers in Muar district who were affected by ammonia pollution in Sungai Muar the past five days has been fully restored.

Johor International Trade, Investment and Utilities Committee chairman Jimmy Puah Wee Tse said the supply was fully restored yesterday but water service operator Ranhill SAJ was still working on improving the water quality.

Although some consumers had complained of getting “murky waters”, the quality of supply met the standards set by the Health Ministry, he said in a statement late last night.

“Ranhill SAJ is working on ensuring better water quality and the process of water quality rehabilitation also depends on the quality of raw water from the river,” he added.

Puah said the ammonia pollution, which was detected on December 31, was believed to have happened after contaminants from an industrial effluent retention pond in the Segamat II industrial estate flowed into the Sungai Kenawar, Sungai Chodan and then Sungai Muar.

He said this caused the output of treated water from the Panchor 3 Water Treatment Plant (LRA) to drop by 20 per cent and disrupted supply to the affected areas.

“Water supply to certain areas in Muar had been badly affected since January 1 because the river, the primary source of supply, was detected to have a high level of ammonia exceeding 2.5 PPM, forcing LRA Panchor 3 to minimise its operations,” he said.

He said among the steps taken to reduce the effects of the ammonia was by releasing an additional 440 MLD of raw water from the Juaseh Segamat Dam.

Ranhill SAJ had also deployed 10 water tankers to distribute water to the affected areas according to priority.

Puah said the Johor Water Regulatory Body (Bakaj) and Ranhill SAJ, with the cooperation of the Department of Environment, were investigating the cause of the pollution.

“Stern action will be taken against the culprits who polluted the river and caused the disruption of the water supply,” Puah added.

Any queries or complaints on water supply can be directed to Ranhill SAJ at 1 800 88 7474 or [email protected], he said. — Bernama