KUALA LUMPUR, March 21 — The downpours over the past week have brought joy to many in the Klang Valley.

Yet, water reserves at the Sungai Selangor dam continue to decrease way below the critical level.

Energy, Green, Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili said the water level at the dam was at 38.53 per cent and had been dropping by three per cent every week. The critical level is below 45 per cent.

“The water catchment area is still not receiving enough water despite frequent rain throughout the week,” he said at the launch of the Asia Water 2014 Exhibition yesterday.

“Cloud seeding at the catchment areas has been temporarily stopped as assets are redeployed in the search for MH370.

“But we are hopeful the situation will improve over the coming weeks.”

Ongkili said the government had approved an interstate raw water transfer project from Sungai Semantan Basin in Pahang to Hulu Langat in Selangor.

“The raw water will be transferred through a 44.6km tunnel across the Titiwangsa range and will be treated in the newly built water treatment plant Langat 2,” he said.

“With additional raw water from the river, there will be more water supply for consumers in the Klang Valley.”

He said the federal government was committed to assisting the Selangor government as the state faced a water crisis.

Under the memorandum of understanding signed between the federal and Selangor governments last month, the state was to take over the four water concessionaires operating in the state — Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Bhd (Syabas), Puncak Niaga Sdn Bhd (PNSB), Konsortium Abbas Sdn Bhd (Abbas) and Syarikat Pengeluar Air Selangor Holdings Bhd (SPLASH).

But only the state-owned Abbas accepted the offer by the time it expired last Monday.

SPLASH rejected the offer outright, while PNSB and its subsidiary Syabas said they were willing to consider the offer on several conditions.