Malaysians feel the strain after cut in water supplies

Malaysians feel the strain after cut in water supplies

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): A two-day cut in water supplies to nearly a million people in the Malaysian capital has left many people fuming, consumers said on Sunday.

A major clean-up at the Langat river water treatment plant costing 2.8 million ringgit (0.7 million dollars) has led to the disruption for around 950,000 people in metropolitan Kuala Lumpur.

The Sun newspaper said the inner walls of the filtration tanks in the 30-year-old plant were coated with mud and the pipes were rusty.

Works Minister Samy Vellu said that although the clean-up operation was scheduled to take only 24 hours, it would be six days before the resumption of normal supplies.

Samy said the plant must wait for the reservoirs to fill up before restarting the water distribution.

Abdul Samad Sulaiman, a burger vendor, complained that he had to transport several pails of water all the way from his home to his stall a few kilometers away.

"I have to make two or three trips in my car and drive very slowly so the water won't spill," he said.

Engineer S. Vicky, 31, said that he had stored more than 20 large buckets of water in his rented home in Bandar Tun Razak, south of here.

"We were told that the water supply would return in 24 hours but I'm not taking chances," he said.

Shop owners have also been charging consumers up to 50 percent more for plastic containers to store water.

The Sun said in one area children were seen chasing mobile water tankers to have their pails filled.

"I think the mad rush for water is yet to come as most people haven't felt the full effect of the water cut yet," one tanker driver said.