Trust Our Tap 2028 is a long-term strategy formulated by Air Selangor in ensuring its ongoing commitment to provide clean and safe water supply with high compliance to National Standard for Drinking Water Quality and Drinking Water Quality Index (DWQI) score.
The drinkable water quality management at the distribution networks up to the consumers’ meter point driven by three (3) main pillars:
- Water quality monitoring: Intensive compliance monitoring to safeguard the quality and safety of treated water supply.
- Water quality diagnostics: Enhance our diagnostic laboratories’ capacity and capability.
- Treated water quality preservation: Scheduled preventive maintenance like reservoir and pipe cleaning as well as remediation works like OACIS (Off-Plant Autonomous Chlorine Injection System).
Safe Drinking Water
National Standard for Drinking
Water Quality Compliance
99.85%
for Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, and Putrajaya
(as of December 2022)
What’s in your water?
Safe drinking water must be clear, and does not have objectionable taste, colour, and odour. Beside being pleasant to drink, it must be free from all harmful organisms, chemical substances, and radionuclides, which could be hazardous to health.
Our water supply contains beneficial naturally occuring minerals like calcium, magnesium, sodium, iron and manganese. In supplying safe drinking water, a very effective disinfectant, chlorine is added during water treatment process to kill microorganisms that may cause waterborne disease while fluoride in drinking water protects against tooth decay. These chemicals are carefully added in controlled amounts and strictly monitored to ensure their levels in water supply consistently complies with the national standard.
Malaysia’s National Standard for Drinking Water Quality
National Standard for Drinking Water Quality developed by Ministry of Health (MOH) Malaysia are based on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Guidelines for drinking water quality. This national standard establishes the level of quality that must be adhered to as well as the frequency of water quality inspections that must be carried out to guarantee a clean and safe supply of drinking water. The permissible limit is set in this standard for 131 parameters which determine microbiological, physical, chemical, and radioactivity characteristics of drinking water.
Drinking Water
Quality Monitoring
How do we monitor our drinking water quality?
In producing treated water that fit for its quality and desired end-use, the abstracted raw water for treatment process must fall within the recommended raw water quality criteria as stipulated by national standard for effective and optimum water treatment process which is safeguard by regular water quality testing throughout the process.
Drinking water quality in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya is monitored by MOH and Air Selangor at more than 1,100 water sampling stations located at water treatment plants and along distribution lines based on monitoring frequency in accordance with National Standard for Drinking Water Quality. The collected water samples are sent to quality testing by accredited laboratories for parameters as stipulated in the national standard.
These monitoring activities’ results are used to generate the overall water quality performance for Air Selangor. To enhance the water quality diagnostics, Air Selangor laboratories are well-equipped with advanced analytical instrumentations which have the capability to detect low level of concentration and a wide range of contaminants, trace metals and emerging pollutants which also includes pharmaceutical products and solvents.
As we operate a wide distribution network that covers more than 30,000 km of pipes, it is important that water quality is consistently maintained before it reaches our consumers. Therefore, the adoption of new technologies has become important for us to assess real-time water quality and ensure the water we supply meets MOH standards. To achieve this, a total of 190 HYDRA (Hybrid Distribution Real-time Water Quality Analyser) stations are installed at strategic locations within the distribution network to enable 24/7 continuous online water quality monitoring system. Water quality inspection is also conducted at more than 1,500 service reservoirs annually to assess the stored water quality which is also the basis for reservoirs cleaning.
Drinking Water Quality Preservation
How do we preserve our drinking water quality?
Reservoir Cleaning
To ensure the water quality in Air Selangor’s reservoirs is preserved, cleaning activities are carried out on a scheduled basis involving approximately 1,600 reservoirs. Reservoirs can either be cleaned by the standard cleaning method where water in the reservoirs needs to be drained, or by using divers with specific cleaning tools that can be used underwater.
Cleaning will be carried out on the interior of the reservoir such as wall structures, columns, and floors, including the cleaning of sediments deposited on the floor of the reservoir. The water quality will be tested after the reservoir cleaning works have been completed to ensure clean and safe water is distributed to consumers.
https://hydrohub.airselangor.com/video/bagaimana-kolam-perkhidmatan-bekalan-air-dibersihkan/
Secondary Chlorination
According to the National Standard for Drinking Water Quality, free residual chlorine (FRC) in treated water must be maintained between 0.2 to 5.0 mg/L to prevent contamination of disease-causing microbes or pathogens. However, as chlorine has the tendency to dissipate into the air over time, in which the water distributed to consumers will no longer contain a disinfectant.
In maintaining the safety and quality of the treated water supplies to consumers, Air Selangor has developed a new technology and system named OACIS (Off-plant Autonomous Chlorine Injection System) which functions as an automatic secondary chlorine booster. The system is specifically targeted to be installed at distribution networks that have an FRC deficiency issues.
Pipe Cleaning
Pipe cleaning works are conducted for about 11,000 km of reticulation pipe periodically in the distribution network to ensure the quality of the water supply is always maintained. There are two (2) methods of pipe cleaning, namely non-pressurized pipe cleaning and pressurized pipe cleaning, which are carried out according to the suitability of an area.
Non-pressurized pipe cleaning uses pressure exerted from the flow of water in the pipe to remove the deposited minerals. On the other hand, for pressurized pipe cleaning, a machine is used to inject compressed air pressure into the pipe which enables it to remove deposits, biofilm, and soft mineral scale from the walls of the pipe.
The water quality will be tested after the pipe cleaning works have been completed to ensure clean and safe water is distributed to consumers.
https://hydrohub.airselangor.com/video/bagaimana-paip-bekalan-air-dibersihkan/
Water Quality Concerns/FAQ/Advice
What to do if your water looks, smells or taste unsual?
Air Selangor is always committed in ensuring that each time our consumers turn on the tap, they enjoy good quality and safe to drink water. Despite the water supplied meets the strict requirements of the National Standard of Drinking Water Quality, we occasionally receive enquiries on the following water quality topics.
Appearance
Why is there discolouration in my water?
The problem may be caused by your internal plumbing or an issue with our water supply network.
What causes it?
- The discoloured water may come from internal plumbing system at your premise.
- Our water supply contains naturally occurring minerals such iron and manganese. As water being supplied through the distribution system, these minerals sediments shall precipitate and build up over time in pipeline. When there’s a change in the pressure or flow increases significantly in the water main network, these sediments will be disturbed and stirred up causing the water supply to appear brownish.
Is it safe to drink discolored water?
The presence of natural mineral sediments could result in discoloured water. As it may not be aesthetically pleasing, we don’t expect consumers to drink it and it is advisable not to do any laundry until the water becomes clear again. However, the discoloured water can still be used for non-drinking purposes like watering your plants or garden.
What can I do?:
- Check out the Air Selangor app if there’s been any activity in your neighbourhood.
- Let the tap water run for 5 to 10 minutes until the water clears out. Please contact us if the water doesn’t become clear.
- Ask your neighbours to find out whether their water is also discoloured. If this is not the case, please check your internal plumbing system.
Tips
Don’t waste any water that you run off from taps. Collect and use it for watering your plants or garden.
MICROBUBBLES
Why is my water cloudy or milky?
Water can sometimes appear cloudy or milky because it contains very fine or micro air bubbles which are almost invisible to the naked eye.
How should I confirm it?
Fill a glass with cloudy water and leave it to sit for an hour or so. If it is caused by trapped air, the bubbles will dissipate and the white appearance or cloudiness will be naturally and quickly clear from the bottom upwards/ towards the top of the glass in less than 2 minutes, like how the bubbles in your soda will dissipate over time.
What causes it?
Air can get trapped in a water supply system when there is a change in pressure in the water supply network following maintenance works such as pipe burst repair work, during water supply recovery or after fire hydrant has been used. The dissolved air that runs through the pipe will be released as tiny bubbles when you run the tap.
If your neighbours are not affected, most likely the cloudy water is caused by your internal plumbing issue.
Is it safe to drink cloudy/ milky water?
If water bubbles are the cause of your cloudy water, it means the water is perfectly safe to drink.
What can I do?:
As cloudy/ milky water should not last long, the situation should clear up itself. Until then you can:
- Let the tap water run for a few minutes until the water clears out.
- Visit a neighboring residence to find out whether their water is also running milky. If this is the case, contact your water supplier to notify them of the issue.
- If the problem persists, please contact us.
Tips
Don’t waste any water that you run off from taps. Collect and use it for watering your plants or garden.
https://hydrohub.airselangor.com/video/mengapa-air-berwarna/
https://hydrohub.airselangor.com/video/mengapa-air-cucian-penapis-air-berwarna-kecoklatan/
Taste & Odour
CHLORINE
Is Chlorine required in water?
Yes. As chlorine is a highly effective disinfectant, we need to add chlorine to our water supply and preserve its residual level between 0.2–5.0 mg/L within the water supply network as required in the national standard to ensure water is safe to drink.
What causes it?
- You might notice chlorine odour if you’re sensitive to smell.
- The chlorine levels at any premises can vary depending on the distance of your premise from the treatment plants. As the level of chlorine deteriorates over time, the closer you are, the more noticeable it might be.
What can I do?:
- If the smell of chlorine is unbearable, a simple solution is to fill the tap water in a jug and place it in the fridge for a few hours or just let it stand overnight to allow some of the residual chlorine to dissipate.
- You may also boil the water and the smell of chlorine should disappear.
- Please keep in mind that when residual chlorine is no longer present, your drinking water can get contaminated with disease-causing microorganisms.
- If the odour is unusually strong, please contact us to report.
Health Concern
Health Concerns Associate With Drinking Water
Our National Standard for Drinking Water Quality set limits to constituents that may be present in water including levels of chemicals added in drinking water like chlorine and fluoride to safeguard the production of safe drinking water supply which is also unobjectionable to physical senses of the consumers.
With high compliance to this national standard, water supply produced and distributed by Air Selangor is safe, palatable, and aesthetically appealing for drinking and other domestic use. However, we understand when some customers raise health concerns attributed to drinking water as we all have different levels of sensitivity depending on our susceptibility level and health condition that can be underlying or preexisting.
What can I do?
It is advisable for consumers who have health concerns to seek medical advice from their healthcare provider.
Water Quality Report
The quality of our drinking water is regulated by the National Standard of Drinking Water Quality issued by the Ministry of Health which follows the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for drinking water quality. Air Selangor will make continuous effort to maintain drinking water quality at the highest possible level.
