Malaysia: Oil slick in Sungai Johor, 500,000 left high and dry

NELSON BENJAMIN The Star 3 Apr 15;

JOHOR BARU: A huge oil slick in Sungai Johor has caused a major water disruption, affecting almost 500,000 residents in three southern districts.

The spill forced the closure of the Semangar and Sungai Johor water treatment plants yesterday.

It was detected by sensors placed at the intakes of the plants, which has the capacity to supply 636 million litres of treated water per day.

The plants serve residents in Johor Baru, Kulaijaya and Nusajaya.

The previous oil spill in the area occurred several years ago but only necessitated the closing of the treatment plants for several hours.

Johor Rural and Regional Develop­ment Committee chairman Datuk Hasni Mohammad said a multi-agency task force set up to handle the problem had put up water booms to prevent the slick from reaching intakes of the treatment plants.

“Luckily, we discovered the slick before it could enter the treatment plants. For safety reasons, we have shut down the plants until we can clear the oil spill in the river,” he said.

Hasni added that the spill was believed to be diesel-based and could have come from tyre burning, which produces oil as a by-product, in Felda Taib Andak in Kulai, some 15km from the intakes.

Asked when water supply would be restored, he said the next 24 hours would be critical for the clean-up effort.

Involved in the effort are Syarikat Air Johor (SAJ), the state water regulatory authority Bakaj, the Department of Environment, Health Department and the Land Office.

It is learnt that SAJ has mobilised at least 11 tankers to supply water to “critical places”, especially hospitals, in case the treatment plants take time to start operating again.

Hasni urged residents in the three districts to store water or contact the SAJ Info Centre hotline at 1800 88 7474, SMS 019-772 7474 or e-mail customer.care@saj.com.my for assistance.

Oil spill forces closure of two water treatment plants in Johor
SIM BAK HENG New Straits Times 2 Apr 15;

JOHOR BARU: A major oil spill along Sungai Johor has forced the operations of two water treatment plants to be shut down since 8am today.

Following the temporary closure of the Semanggar and Sungai Johor treatment plants, some 1.25 million people from 250,000 households in Johor Baru, Nusajaya and part of Kulaijaya are expected to experience water disruption from 8am, at least for the next 24 hours.

Efforts by the Department of Environment, SAJ Holdings Sdn Bhd and the Johor Health Department have focused on, among others, installing silt curtain-like structures to prevent the spread of the oil spill further down the river.

Initial investigation showed that the oil spill originated from a used tyre processing factory near Felda Taib Andak in Kulai.

State Public Works, Rural and Regional Development Committee chairman Datuk Hasni Mohammad said the fuel used to burn used tyres had apparently spilled into the river and contaminated the waterway stretching for about 15 kilometres.

"We have taken all precautionary measures to prevent the oil spill from flowing further down the river or it will force us to shut down the operations of even more water treatment plants and the effect will be disastrous," he told the New Straits Times.

It is learnt that there are five water treatment plants located along Sungai Johor. The other three, which are located further down the river, are the Sungai Sayong, Linggiu, and Bandar Tenggara treatment plants.

Water treated at the Linggiu treatment plant is supplied to Singapore.

Oil spill in Sg Johor causes major water disruption
NELSON BENJAMIN The Star 2 Apr 15;

JOHOR BARU: A huge oil spill along Sungai Johor has caused a major water supply disruption, affecting almost 500,000 residents in three major districts in the south of the state.

The oil spill, which was detected at 8am, Thursday has forced the closure of two major water treatment – the Semangar water treatment plant and Sungai Johor water treatment plants.

Both the plants supply water to residents in Johor Baru, Kulaijaya and Nusajaya.

Johor Rural and Regional development committee chairman Datuk Hasni Mohammad, who described the situation as the worst pollution this year, said that immediate steps were being taken to address the problem.

He urged residents to store water or contact the SAJ Info Centre hotline at 1800-88-7474 or SMS 019-772 7474 or email customer.care@saj.com.my.