He said the scheduled maintenance from Oct 13-16 had actually been postponed since 2019 and 2020 and had been approved by the National Water Services Commission (SPAN).

“In 2019, the maintenance date was very near to an unscheduled disruption, while in 2020, it was (postponed due to) the enforcement of the movement control order and we did not want any disruption of supply to happen then.

“The scheduled maintenance must be conducted to avoid any damage. In 2016, there was an explosion at a water treatment plant in the state and an officer was injured. It caused a week-long water disruption,” he told reporters during his weekly media conference here today.

Amirudin said that since the state government took over the water supply management under Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor), it had reviewed the maintenance schedule.

He also said that the water disruption issue in Selangor was usually due to three factors – inadequate raw water supply during drought or pollution, operational failure at treatment plants and unforeseen factors.

Air Selangor previously said in a statement that 998 areas in the Klang Valley would experience scheduled water disruptions from Oct 13-16 following upgrading work.

They include the Petaling, Klang/Shah Alam, Gombak, Kuala Lumpur, Hulu Selangor, Kuala Langat and Kuala Selangor districts.

On the recent flash floods in Shah Alam, Amirudin said the Shah Alam City Council had taken immediate steps by allocating RM7 million for additional pumps to address the issue.

Amirudin said 78 projects had been completed with a total allocation of RM425.23 million under the 11th Malaysia Plan to address flooding in Selangor.

“The Selangor Department of Irrigation and Drainage has also asked for RM1.3 billion to solve the flooding issue holistically in flood-prone areas,” he said.