The water cuts are expected to affect 998 areas due to upgrading and maintenance work at the Sungai Selangor Water Treatment Plant Phase 1 (SSP1 WTP).

Air Selangor said the shutdown of the plant is expected to last from Oct 13 to 16.

At ST Rosyam Mart in Section 9, Shah Alam, customers were seen pushing trolleys filled with mineral water in anticipation of the water cut.

Assistant manager Rizal Zaimaldim, 35, told FMT that people had been visiting the supermarket to stock up on water for the past week.

“We ordered three lorry-loads of mineral water. We only have one left. The demand for water has been very high.

“Over the past week, we have had about 30 to 40 customers each day just buying mineral water, and they buy at least four cartons at a time.”

He said the outlet has also been carrying out promotions on bottled water over the last week.

A woman who was seen loading cartons of mineral water into a truck outside the supermarket said she was stocking up for her restaurant.

The woman, who did not want to be identified, said she had been stocking up over the last three days.

“The purpose of the water cut is to clean up the treatment plant, so it has to be done. It is for hygienic purposes so I understand the point. In Selangor, we are used to water cuts, so we are just preparing.”

In Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Kuala Lumpur, Shankar R Santhiram, who owns and runs the Fire Grill restaurant, anticipates that the water cuts will affect his business terribly.

“We are a restaurant – water is vital. We have been told they would shut down our supply from Wednesday to Saturday. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays are our busiest days.”

He added that the water interruptions would set his business back a lot, especially since they were only just recovering from being shut down due to the lockdowns over the last four months.

“It has only been less than a month since we reopened. And even now, people are still scared of going out.”

He added that many restaurateurs were perplexed with why the authorities were carrying out the maintenance work now, arguing that it could have been done during the lockdown when people were staying home.

He said the restaurant had been stocking up on water over the last week for cooking and cleaning.

“We also had to shut down one of our toilets, and we will also cut down on our menu items.

“Hopefully, we get our supply back earlier, before the weekend, so it doesn’t adversely affect our weekend crowd.”

Melanie Lim, who runs Kairos Cafe at Menara Milenium in Damansara Heights, said they had only opened for a week, but were now forced to deal with water cuts.

“We are reliant on good quality water supply for our menu items. As a beverage business for office-goers, we will need to stock up on water so that it will not affect my business and customers.”

She added that many of her customers would be visiting the Cafe for the first time this week after months of lockdown.

“There are a lot of factors here that could dissuade my customers from coming again.”