Nearly RM900mil Spent To Replace Old Water Pipes In Selangor Since 2016, Says Air Selangor

AIR Selangor recorded higher water pipe leak cases in 2021 compared with 2020 at 135,413 cases compared with 124,614 cases respectively.

While launching Air Selangor’s 2021 Sustainability Report, its chief executive officer Suhaimi Kamaralzaman said, however, there were lower pipe burst cases in 2021 with 1,910 cases, which bring their Pipe Burst Index (PBI) to 6.37%. In 2020, it was 8%.

He said the PBI was a measurement of the frequency of a burst pipe per 100km.

“The global standard is about 13 (per 100km).

“The PBI is a useful indicator and measurement to set a KPI at Air Selangor,” he told a press conference at The Vertical in Bangsar South on Thursday (June 30).

Suhaimi said since 2016, Air Selangor spent close to RM900mil to replace old water pipes in the state.

He added that they allocated about RM150mil a year to replace aged pipes, under its Old Pipe Replacement Programme.
“We understand the consumers’ concerns (about burst water pipes), and we are minimising this to bring the numbers down even lower.”

Suhaimi said they prioritised identifying the leaks in the pipes before it bursts.

“The leaks have increased from the previous year, so we have our teams going around identifying the leaks.

“These leaks drip into the ground, although it is still non-revenue water, and we replace it before the pipe bursts.

“This is considered our short to medium term measures. The long-term measures are to replace the water pipes,” he said, adding that Air Selangor replaced more than 90km of pipes in 2021 with allocations to replace 150km of pipes a year.

This is part of Air Selangor’s plan to replace 6,000km of old and aged pipes, mostly made from asbestos and cement laid in the 1980s.

Air Selangor’s sustainability report theme this year is “Nurturing Sustainable Water Ecosystem”.

“The theme is apt in showcasing our commitment as an organisation to act as the catalyst to collaborate with other industry players in nurturing a sustainable water ecosystem.

“Collaboration is of utmost importance in ensuring the safety of our water from source to tap.

“We have a total of 8.4 million consumers across Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.

“This reflects the magnitude of our operations to ensure continuous, sustainable, clean and safe treated water supply to all consumers,” he said.

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