Johor faces water woes, Selangor and Perak safe for now

KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 — While the two dams in Johor have only between 20 and 30 days of water left, reservoirs and dams in Selangor and Perak have enough supplies to ride through the dry spell.

SAJ Holdings Sdn Bhd head of communications Jamaluddin Jamil said the water level at the Sungei Layang and Sungei Lebam dams would only be sufficient until the end of July if it did not rain by then.

He said the water level at Sungai Sembrong Kiri, which supplied raw water to the Sembrong Timor water treatment plant in Kluang, was also critically low. The production of  treated water had fallen from the usual 33 million litres per day to only 29 million litres per day now.

Treated water from the Sembrong Timor plant supplies an estimated 150,00 households in Kluang.

Jamaluddin said that for now, there was enough to go around.

“Water rationing will only come in when the situation gets worse. We can pray for rain since it has been two months since the last substantial rainfall over the area,” he said.

The critical level for Sungai Lebam is 12.27m and the water level has receded to 10.21m. The Sungai Layang water level is currently 20.62m while the critical level is 23.5m.

The water from these two dams is being fed to Sultan Iskandar Water treatment plant in Pulai for use by an estimated 600,000 consumers in Pasir Gudang and various parts of the city.

“It’s obvious that the water levels are falling, and the dams have between 20 to 30 days of supply if there is no rainfall from now,” he said.

The water level at the the dams in Selangor all showed a reading above 65 per cent. As of 8am yesterday, the Selangor Water Management Board (LUAS) readings indicated that the Langat dam was at its lowest level of 65.11 per cent, while the highest level was recorded in Semenyih dam which was at 99.94 per cent.

Batu Dam recorded a reading of 69.68 per cent, Sg Tinggi water levels was at 77.42 per cent, Klang Gates at 79.71 per cent, Sg Selangor at 80.74 per cent, Sg Labu at 87.79 per cent and Tasik Subang at 98.96 per cent.

The Perak Water Board said the potable water supply was also at a comfortable level, and would be able to weather the current dry spell without any hiccups.

Infrastructure, energy and water committee chairman Datuk Zainol Fadzi Paharuddin said consumers need not worry about not having sufficient supply as there was enough water currently at reservoirs and dams.

“Although the country is experiencing a dry spell that began two weeks ago, the readings of water levels in Perak are at healthy level at all dams,” he said here yesterday.

Zainol, who chaired the Perak Water Board’s meeting a day earlier, said the board did not foresee shortage of water during the on-going month of Ramadan.

He said the Sultan Azlan Shah Dam in Hulu Kinta would be able to supply water up to four months even if the dry spell were to last that long.