Water, water, everywhere except in Selangor

From FMT:

Syabas struggles to cope with water crisis


Subang residents angry with the company's jarring schedules that has left them without water for hours on end.

PETALING JAYA: Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas) is struggling to handle the current water crisis facing residents.

A source revealed to FMT that the company was struggling to cope with the immense demand for water tankers particularly for Subang Jaya residents.

According to the source, the company only had 58 water tankers on hand and had resorted to renting tankers as well as enlisting the help of other government agencies.

Even then, the combined number of tankers stood only at 83.

The 83 tankers had to be stretched across four districts, namely Petaling, Hulu Langat, Kuala Langat and Sepang, and residents in these areas had already begun to complain.

Subang Jaya Assemblywoman Hannah Yeoh tonight shared a Facebook post detailing Syabas’s schedule of water disruptions and restoration of water supply.

However, irate Subang residents argued that Syabas’s schedule was unacceptable to them.

“Open from 8am to 2pm. This is an emergency situation; direct MPSJ to supply from 6am to 10pm.

“We need water to bathe and go to work. I stay in USJ, now its 9.30pm, still no water. What happened to water by 4pm?” commented Eric Goh on Yeoh’s Facebook post.

“I’d rather Syabas not stop supply of water at all, smell or no smell. The water we have been using is contaminated all this while. Take a look at our filter!

“After all, we are used to bottled water for consumption. At least we have water to flush toilets.

“Very incompetent administration – whoever runs Syabas, Selangor and the Environmental Office,” commented James Katz in response to Yeoh’s Facebook post.

Slightly over 5 months ago I posted DAP wants water conservation in Selangor, PKR nixed that where our dear MP for Klang, Charles Santiago, urged/advised the Selangor Government to have a special committee headed by the Menteri Besar, Azmin Ali, to consider sustainable water conservation efforts.

Santiago backed his advice or recommendations with statistics and calculations on the fast dropping water levels at the Sungai Selangor and Semenyih dams.

But my dearest dahleeeeeng Elizabeth Wong, Selangor exco member and chairperson for tourism, environment, green technology and consumer affairs committee was totally pissed-off with Santiago, attacking the concerned samaritan in the media, accusing him of making wild allegations based on inaccurate calculations.

Wong repudiated Santiago's claim, asserting that Selangor was well-prepared to ride out the prolonged dry spell.

As I had then written, poor Charles was NOT making any recommendations about water supply but rather about 'CONSERVATION' management, meaning the necessity of controlling unnecessary usage of water in Selangor at a time of impending and likely problems in water supply to the public, due to El Nino.

If accepted by tEh almighty PKR and implemented, that proposal would have incalculated good habits and indirectly civic consciousness among Selangor residents.

But alas, any proposals by DAP, no matter how decent and commonsense they might be, would always be viewed as 'suspect' by PKR, wakakaka, so Santiago's proposal was treated with disrespect, disdain and disregard, and flashed down the gurgler with precious Selangor water.

From also FMT, in another article:

Retired water engineer, A Somnath, 84, has had more than 45 years of experience in the planning, construction, operations and maintenance of water supply in the state of Selangor.

He insists that the current management of Selangor’s water supply does not have the basic knowledge or the experience in how to manage their operations properly.

“Most of them lack knowledge and experience in this particular discipline. They have made wrong estimations and most likely have not followed the proper guidelines in the overall operations of a dam or a water treatment plant (WTP),” he told FMT here today.

“These days there is no universality in the way a dam or WTP is planned and executed.” [...]

He pointed out that Kuala Lumpur and Selangor were the only states facing the problem and hinted that the people in charge of managing the water supply are the one’s who need to be questioned. [...]

“Syabas should have taken into account the climate changes, rainfall levels and the increase in domestic water consumption, to be able to distribute the water correctly.”

“If this had been done, we would not be in this predicament. It is the distributor’s responsibility to make sure that every household in Selangor has enough water, equally,” he said.

And Charles Santiago did just precisely that more than 5 months ago, but alas, the far-too-proud PKR section of the Selangor state government was far too defensive, with a MB who was looking "elsewhere" (at Pribumi?), other than to say in August that "Selangor residents may have to bear higher water tariffs in future after the master agreement on the state’s water industry restructuring has been finalised, including the taking-over of the water concessionaires".

Santiago's conservation management might have helped or at least prepared the Selangoreans for what is being experienced by them today.

Oh oh oh, where's my dear reader Monsterball who valiantly defended the PKR arguments in the Selangor government and pooh-poohed Santiago's cry in April this year?

Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink

- The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge