JOHOR BARU, May 13 — The water situation in and around Johor Baru is not getting any better despite the continuous heavy rain in the past three days.
As rain continued to fall over Johor Baru late yesterday for almost an hour, public works, rural and regional development committee chairman Datuk Hasni Mohammad said water rationing for areas in and around Johor Baru and Pasir Gudang could be introduced by the end of the month.
This was because water at the Congok Dam in Mersing could only last two weeks at the very most, if the dry spell continues.
“We know we have rain in Johor Baru and the outlying areas over the past three days and more rain is expected. But the rain is not falling over the areas where we want it, like the catchment areas and over the dams,” he said.
Hasni said the state was looking into hiring companies to carry out cloud seeding instead of relying solely on the Meteorological Department.
“A budget of RM300,000 has already been set aside by the state government for cloud seeding operations and hopefully, we get the desired results,” he said.
Congok Dam in Mersing supplies some 8,167 households, or an estimated 46,8000 people, with water daily.
The water level at the dam as of yesterday was at 3.9m.
It was 4.2m on May 3 when members of the National Water Service Commission (SPAN) visited the dam.
“The water level there has been receding every day and if the decline continues, there will be no more water to draw from the Congok Dam within two weeks.”
Hasni said unless the current dry spell eases, water rationing would be inevitable.
“Syarikat Air Johor (SAJ) tells me the areas of Johor Baru, Pasir Gudang, Kota Tinggi and Mersing, affecting some 885,000 people, would have to undergo water rationing, if there is no improvement until the end of the month,” he said.
Water rationing has already been implemented by Syarikat Air Johor, the state water concessionaire, with the approval of SPAN in certain areas in the districts of Mersing and Kota Tinggi since April 20 and will continue until May 15.
Syarikat Air Johor production and distribution manager Elias Ismail said water rationing may be implemented for households that rely on the Sungei Layang dam in Kota Tinggi.
“The water level at the Sungei Layang dam is at 19.35m, below the critical level of 23.5m. At the rate the water level is receding, at about 0.03m per day, we will face a critical situation within two weeks,” he said.
“Once the water level reaches 19m, we have to impose water rationing, just like last year, unless we have continous rain over the area.”
