JOHOR BARU, April 25 — The Water Treatment Plant (LRA) at Simpang Renggam was shut down on Tuesday due to high ammonia content readings, exceeding the level permitted by the Health Ministry.

Johor International Trade, Investments and Utilities committee chairman Jimmy Puah Wee Tse said that the pollution had affected 15,000 account holders in Simpang Renggam and 8,000 in Pontian as a result of the water supply disruption.

He said pollution was believed to have occurred as leachate seeped when the embankments of the CEP 1 Simpang Renggam discharge pond broke because of heavy rains.

"Ranhill SAJ Sdn Bhd (the company responsible for water supply services in Johor) was forced to stop operations because the quality of raw water resources declined due to higher ammonia content exceeding permitted limits of 1.5 ppm (parts per million PPM).

"At noon, the water readings at Sungai Ulu Benut recorded a reading of 16 ppm which meant that the Simpang Renggam LRA was unable to provide clean water,” he added in a statement.

Puah said that if the ppm reading dropped to the permissible level, appropriate action would be taken to enable operations to process clean water supply as usual.

He said 30 water tankers had been deployed to the affected areas and priority would be given to schools and hospitals. — Bernama