SHAH ALAM – Despite facing water disruption, several restaurants around Section 7 Shah Alam continue their business operations as usual.
Restaurant operators here have taken the necessary measures to ensure their water storage lasts for three days until tomorrow.
Checks by Scoop also found that some shop owners have closed their restrooms for customers.
Others use plastic liners on plates when serving food, while others encourage customers to use plastic forks and spoons.
Hamdan Rusli, a 20-year-old worker at a local restaurant, said the water supply was unexpectedly disrupted around 2pm yesterday.
He said the water cut is challenging, especially when washing dishes and removing grease from the utensils – considering the nature of the dishes they prepare, such as oily tom yum.
“We still had water this morning, so we operated as usual. For now, if the water remains out for more than three hours, we will close the restaurant.
“Currently, we are slowly cleaning up. We are not sure how to wash the used utensils, as there are quite a lot of them now,” he said.
Section 7 is a popular area for dining in Shah Alam and is close to Universiti Teknologi Mara.
Another restaurant owner, Nasri Tajri, 27, said that his restaurant stored water in two large containers for their use.
“If it runs out, we’ll have to close the shop. I expect the water supply to be cut off by 9am but since we still have water, I opted to open the shop,” he said.
Meanwhile, Diana Mohd Azmi, aged 28, expressed concern that closing her shop would result in losses considering the typical crowd that gathers around 6pm.
“If I were to close the shop, it would incur losses as a considerable amount of food has already been prepared.
“During the evenings, we often see a surge in customers, particularly students,” she said, adding that she uses polystyrene containers for customer convenience.
She also said that she serves customers with paper food wrappers to conserve water.
Another worker, Maisal Abdullah, 23, said his restaurant would operate as usual since they have prepared seven containers of water for daily use over three days.
“However, we have to inform customers in advance that there is no water at the restaurant, so they will have to use spoons and forks as we have closed the sinks and restrooms.
“It’s quite challenging to work because we have to use stored water to wash the dishes.
“We need to save water even though we have stored a lot, as we don’t know how long it will last,” he said.
Last week, Scoop reported that Air Selangor advised residents in the Petaling, Klang, Shah Alam, Gombak, Kuala Lumpur, Hulu Selangor, and Kuala Selangor areas to ensure they have an adequate water supply due to disruptions starting yesterday.
“Air Selangor would like to remind users about the ongoing maintenance and asset replacement work at the Sg Selangor Phase 1 Water Treatment Plant.
“Water supply is expected to resume gradually from 3 AM on June 6, 2024 (Thursday), once the maintenance and asset replacement work is completed and the main water distribution system is stabilised.
“Users are expected to receive water supply gradually starting at 3am on June 6, 2024 (Thursday) after the maintenance and asset replacement work is completed and once the main water distribution system is stabilised,” it said. – June 6, 2024.