Workers at the ponds told Malay Mail yesterday they had not pumped water into the dam since Friday.

“We will only extract water from the ponds when we receive instructions from the Selangor Water Management Board (LUAS),” one of them, who declined to be named, said.

“We have been pumping out water for the past three months but we stopped doing so after several pipes were damaged on Sunday because of alleged sabotage.

“It appears as if wires inside the power box which are connected to the pumps were deliberately disconnected but we do not know for sure what happened.”

He said it would take one week for the pipes to be repaired.

The worker claimed a lot of water had been channelled to Sungai Selangor in the last three months, but he could not provide an estimate of how much.

“The water level could also be low because of the dry spell. I can’t remember the last time it rained here,” he said.

He said the area used to be a favourite spot for anglers but many stopped fishing there after the extraction of water began.

Checks by Malay Mail revealed four of the six ponds were drying up, while the remaining two — Hang Tuah 1 and Hang Tuah 2 — had a moderate amount of supply.

According to LUAS, the former mining ponds produce 70 million cubic litres of water a day.

A spokesman said the pools were drying up as a lot of water had been pumped out during the Hari Raya holidays.

“The ponds are also being used to store water. When the water level at Sungai Selangor is high we will channel the water from the river to the ponds for storage,” he said.

He declined to comment when asked if the ponds were drying up because of the lack of rain, and was also unable to confirm when was the last time water was channelled from Sungai Selangor to the ponds.

The spokesman said although six pumps were damaged, water was still being extracted as 16 other pumps were functioning.

Checks on the LUAS website yesterday showed the water level at the Sungai Selangor dam stood at 32.74 per cent.

The state government had repeatedly said it would not call for another round of water rationing, claiming there was sufficient supply of water, including that from former mining pools.