PADANG BESAR, July 31 — The National Water Services Commission (SPAN) is strengthening its preparedness to face the Super El Nino phenomenon expected to occur in November through continuous monitoring of dams and water treatment plants (WTP) nationwide to ensure that water supply to consumers continues to be guaranteed.

SPAN Emergency and Risk Preparedness Committee (JKKR) chairman Sulaiman Kamisan said his party, together with related agencies, also conducted working visits to several dams in Kedah and Perlis to assess the current situation of raw water sources.

“We want to ensure that water supply sources are sufficient and mitigation measures have been planned in advance to face the possibility of drought,” he told reporters after conducting a working visit by SPAN JKKR at the Timah Tasoh Dam near here today.

Sulaiman said the monitoring results found that all related agencies, including the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) and water supply operators, had taken early steps and were ready to implement their respective action plans if the drought situation worsened.

Meanwhile, he said Perlis is among the states currently receiving attention due to the water level of Timah Tasoh Dam being at a critical level.

He said based on the briefing given by the DID and Syarikat Air Perlis (SAP), the two agencies are preparing various mitigation measures including the installation of temporary pumps to pump water to the intake area, dredging clogged drains and other actions to ensure that the operation of the water treatment plant is not affected.

“We hope that the rain that usually occurs around September to October can help increase the water level of this dam to a safer level. However, if all mitigation measures have been taken but the rain still does not fall, the possibility of implementing Scheduled Water Supply (BAB) or water rationing will have to be considered as a last resort,” he said.

Meanwhile, SPAN in a statement in conjunction with the working visit announced that as of yesterday, 35 dams out of 43 dams monitored nationwide were at normal levels while four dams (alert level), two dams (warning level) and two others were at critical levels, namely the Timah Tasoh Dam in Perlis and the Lebam Dam (Johor).

In addition, according to SPAN, monitoring of 117 major WTPs in Peninsular Malaysia and the Federal Territory of Labuan found that all were still operating normally and able to meet domestic and non-domestic water supply demands.

SPAN also expects the country’s water supply to remain sufficient until the end of this year, but monitoring and emergency action plans will continue to be implemented if the Super El Nino phenomenon affects supply operations. — Bernama