JOHOR BAHRU, April 15 — Johor water operator Ranhill SAJ will use a desalination plant set at Lok Heng Water Treatment Plant (WTP) to address water supply disruptions following the drought affecting areas in Felda Lok Heng and Felda Waha in Kota Tinggi.
State Public Works, Transport and Infrastructure Committee chairman Mohamad Fazli Mohamad Salleh said Ranhill SAJ is currently actively moving the desalination plant set, which is located in Forest City near Iskandar Puteri, to the WTP.
He said the plant set is capable of producing two million litres of treated water per day and so far the installation work is 34 per cent completed.
“God willing, it is expected to be operational on April 20, and it will at least be able to help consumers in the Lok Heng and Waha areas to receive water supply from their taps,” he said in a Facebook post.
According to him, various efforts to address the issue had previously been taken, but they were unsuccessful, including using groundwater through tube wells and transferring water from Sungai Lukah.
However, Sungai Lukah water has high salinity and cannot be transferred to Sungai Ulu Sedili Kecil as the Lok Heng WTP does not have facilities to treat salt water, which led to efforts to transfer the plant.
“...with the installation of this desalination plant set, it is hoped that the transfer of water from Sungai Lukah to Sungai Ulu Sedili Kecil can be treated despite the high level of salinity,” he said.
He said the current water level in Sungai Ulu Sedili Kecil is also not sufficient to ensure that the Lok Heng WTP is operational again.
In this regard, he appealed to the public affected by the drought to be patient and use water wisely, besides praying for rain to fall soon to restore the situation.
Mohamad Fazli was previously reported to have said that the prolonged drought for more than two months had caused Sungai Ulu Sedili Kecil to dry up, thus causing the WTP’s operations to stop, affecting 4,042 consumers. — Bernama
