The Selangor government is to use membrane technology in an abandoned water treatment plant in Shah Alam in the bid to increase water supply in the state.

State executive councillor Dr Xavier Jayakumar said the Bukit Jelutong water treatment plant should be reopened in the next six months.

NONE The state government will bear the estimated cost of RM50 million to RM 80 million to repair and upgrade the plant with the new technology, Xavier said in a statement today.

The membrane water filtration process uses semi-permeable membranes that act as filter, letting water flow through but trapping all suspended solids and other substances.

"This is state government's effort to supply sufficient treated water to the people of Selangor through an alternative water source by using modern technology," Xavier said.

NONE He estimates the Bukit Jelutong plant will produce 50 to 100 million litres of water a day and for this amount to meet more than half of the water demand in Shah Alam.

The state government has appointed a consultant to prepare a study on the membrane water treatment process and the report should be presented to the Selangor Economic Planning Unit (Upen) in the next two months, he said.

The Bukit Jelutong treatment plant was built in 1963 and closed in early 1995 because its water source, Sungai Damansara, was polluted up to Level 4, the maximum pollutant level.

DPM rejected Khalid's proposal

Xavier visited the treatment plant at Shah Alam's Section 13 in yesterday, accompanied by officers from Upen, consultant Abbas Consortium and Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas).

In mid-October, Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim said he would discuss with Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin a proposal from a Canadian company to use containerised membrane technology to ease an impending water shortage in the state.

However, Muhyiddin rejected Khalid's proposal, saying the technology was not practical, costly and that it would not add more water for consumption.

The federal government is insisting on building the RM3.7 billion Langat 2 water treatment plant with water piped from neighbouring Pahang.