MELAKA, Feb 21 — The Melaka state government wants to double its water supply intake from Sungai Gersik, Johor from 220 million litres to 440 million litres a day in the third phase of the implementation of its water rationing exercise.
Chief Minister Adly Zahari said the effort was among the events which were being focused upon in its short-term plan to ensure adequate supply of raw water for the people.
To date, he said the state government had requested for an allocation of RM250 million from the Ministry of Finance for the construction of a pipeline from Melaka to the Gersik pumping station.
“The process of implementing the third phase is the same as any other phase, but we are preparing to make an application to pump water by increasing its capacity, and if this is realised, then the amount of water supply will exceed the needs of the population and simultaneously solve the water supply issues in the long term,” he told reporters after officiating the launch of a collaboration among Melaka women’s NGOs here today.
He said the state government was also in the process of acquiring land to divert Sungai Kesang to overcome the issue of pollution and to enable the Merlimau Water Treatment Plant (WTP) to receive its entire supply from Sungai Kesang, without having to rely on water from Sungai Gersik.
Adly said this was also to enable the Durian Tunggal Dam to receive full water supply from Sungai Gersik while the Merlimau WTP could utilise the water from Sungai Kesang. Prior to this, Sungai Gersik contributed 70 per cent of its water to the Durian Tunggal Dam and 30 per cent to the Merlimau WTP.
He added that, as of today, the Durian Tunggal Dam’s water level was at 22.3 per cent with 6.870 million litres, followed by the Jus Dam with 29.4 per cent (12.725 million litres) and the Asahan Dam with 64.9 per cent (452 million litres).
The first phase of the state’s water supply rationing began on Jan 29, involving 550,673 people or 62.8 per cent of the population, and continued for the second phase on Feb 10 involving hospitals, industrial areas and tourism centres.
The third phase is scheduled to begin next Monday as the water levels in the three main dams had yet to register an increase and were still insufficient to ensure adequate water supply to face the hot and dry weather. — Bernama
