JOHOR BARU - Johor state water supply services company SAJ Ranhill Sdn Bhd (SAJ) was forced to shut down another water treatment plant on Saturday (Nov 18) due to ammonia pollution, less than a month after closing three other plants in the state for the same reason.

In a statement on Saturday, SAJ said the Sembrong Barat water treatment plant in Kluang was shut down after the raw water source at the Sembrong Dam was found to contain an excessive amount of ammonia.

"The closure is expected to affect about 45,000 account holders, or about 225,000 consumers in Kluang," said SAJ.

State Health, Environment, Education and Information Executive Committee chairman Ayub Rahmat said the Department of Environment will be investigating the source of the pollution on Sunday.

"I will be visiting the site of the pollution (on Sunday) afternoon," said Mr Ayub.

Earlier this month, three water treatment plants along Sungai Johor, namely the Semangar, Johor and Tai Hong plants, were forced to suspend operations due to ammonia pollution, which was traced to an illegal fertiliser processing plant.

The closure affected two million consumers in Johor Baru, Kulai and Kota Tinggi. NEW STRAITS TIMES