However, it said some factors were beyond its control, such as the weather and access to faulty pipes.
In a statement by corporate communications head Amin Lin Abdullah today, Air Selangor said all repair works were performed around the clock in fair weather. However, under heavy and continuous rain, work was put on hold until the weather improved.
Similarly, some water pipes were located more than 10 metres underground, in remote areas or at busy streets that were not accessible by heavy machinery.
The company was responding to complaints by Klang Valley residents who said Air Selangor appeared unable to follow the timeline for repairs and restoration given to the public prior to any disruption.
They also claimed there were instances when supply was restored only after the promised time.
Explaining the repair process, Air Selangor said that for faulty pipes, water supply was temporarily shut off. It added that the timeframe for repairing such pipes depended on their size and location. Most trunk water pipes were more than three feet in diameter.
Once repairs were completed, the pipes were cleaned and the water slowly released to prevent bursting due to high water pressure.
“The duration of the water supply to reach premises is dependent on the distance of the service reservoirs,” it said.
Addressing claims that water supply was only restored three days after a major pipe burst in Sungai Buloh last month, it said repair works had been completed between 12–36 hours, ahead of its targeted 48 hours.
Following this, water supply was restored in stages. It added that only a few areas at the end of the distribution systems and in hilly areas had to wait 72 hours for water to be fully restored.
Likewise, whenever a water treatment plant halted operations due to raw water pollution from a river, power supply interruptions or major repair works, it was normal for water to be restored only after 24 hours.
When the plant resumed operations, at least 12 hours was required to treat the water before it was transferred to a balancing reservoir.
“Water will be released to the service reservoir when the balancing reservoir reaches optimum levels. Depending on the distance of the water treatment plant and the service reservoirs as well as capacity of the service reservoirs, water supply will only reach the premises when water in the service reservoir reaches optimum level,” it said.
Air Selangor pointed to the Semenyih water treatment plant which was forced to cease operations six times in September and October last year due to pollution in the raw water from Sungai Semenyih and Sungai Buah in Nilai.
“Throughout the plant shutdown period, we constantly updated consumers via the mass media, social media, online news portals as well as messages through the messenger group on the status of the water interruption as well as efforts to mitigate the polluted rivers.”
It added that maintenance work was scheduled in advance, and consumers were notified before these took place.
It urged consumers to use water prudently, especially during the current spell of hot weather. Consumers can also request for relief water supply while waiting for water to be restored, by sending an SMS to 15300 (Type Tanker Name & Address).
Air Selangor took over from Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas) and Puncak Niaga Sdn Bhd as the provider of water supply services to consumers in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya last October.