Singapore’s water supply not affected by pollution in Johor River: PUB

SINGAPORE – The pollution plaguing the Johor River will not affect the water supply in Singapore despite the temporary disruption in treatment operations at the Johor River Waterworks (JRWW), said national water agency PUB.

In a statement posted on its Facebook page on Sunday (Oct 29), the utilities board said it had stepped up production at the desalination plants and local waterworks to meet local water demand .

“Johor River Waterworks has to temporarily stop treatment operations at 11am on Oct 28 due to pollution in the Johor River with high ammonia levels,” the PUB said.

“The stoppage of treatment operations at JRWW disrupted its supply to Singapore and some parts of Johor.

“Water supply in Singapore will not be affected as PUB had stepped up production at the desalination plants and local waterworks to meet demand.”

The PUB added that it is monitoring the raw water quality in the Johor River and will “resume abstraction and treatment of raw water when the water quality is suitable”.

Malaysian media reported on Sunday that an illegal poultry farm that also makes fertiliser using chicken manure has been found to be the source of ammonia pollution in the Johor River.

The level of pollution forced the temporary shutdown of three water treatment plants since last Friday (Oct 27), and led to water supply disruptions affecting 1.8 million people in Johor Bahru.

This is not the first time the Johor River has been plagued by ammonia pollution. In July last year, the same farm had been partly responsible for another incident that affected the water supply to 600,000 people.

Johor Department of Environment (DoE) director Dr Mohammad Ezanni Mat Salleh said the poultry farm on the banks of Sungai Sayong, which is a tributary of Johor River, was operating without approval from his office.

But any order to close the factory must come from the Johor Veterinary Services Department or the District Land Office, he added.

Dr Ezanni revealed that, based on checks conducted by DoE staff at the farm since the previous case of pollution last year, the factory did not adhere to proper storage techniques for its fertiliser.

"The factory uses manure from the chicken to make fertiliser. Much of the fertiliser is improperly stored. The fertiliser products and chicken manure are stacked and exposed to the elements,” he said.

"When it rains, the water soaks these items and the water seeps into the ground and flows into the river. This leads to the high content of ammonia in the river.”