SHAH ALAM, Aug 20 — Heavy rain upstream of Sungai Batang Kali caused a spike in river turbidity levels yesterday evening, prompting a two-hour shutdown of the Batang Kali water treatment plant (WTP).
However, the Selangor Water Management Authority (Luas) said the treated water supply to consumers was not affected.
The downpour at the Sungai Batang Kali catchment area caused a significant increase in turbidity levels in the river, reaching 4,144 Nephelometric Turbidity Unit (NTU).
"As a control measure, the Batang Kali WTP was temporarily shut down from 7pm to 9pm yesterday to safeguard the plant’s operations.
"A Luas team immediately conducted field observations at related locations along Sungai Batang Kali and confirmed that the turbidity issue was due to heavy rainfall upstream.
"This resulted in an increase in water flow across the surface areas within the catchment, resulting in higher turbidity levels compared to normal days," it said in a Facebook post today.
Nevertheless, Luas carried out further investigations and monitoring this morning on other activities that could have contributed to the high turbidity, like land clearing works along the river.
