 KUALA LUMPUR, April 22 ― The water level at Selangor’s main dam is now below the 40 per cent critical mark with supply due to run out in a month unless the state continues its extended rationing drive, Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said today. “For now, we are forced to continue with the rationing because the water level in the main dam, that is the Sungai Selangor Dam, is still below the critical [mark] and the water is only sufficient for 29 days without rationing,” he said in a statement. Despite the near daily rainfall in the Klang Valley ― Malaysia’s most densely populated area — the Sungai Selangor dam currently has 89.29 million cubic metres of water compared to the 235.32 million cubic metres if it were 100 per cent full, Khalid said. He said the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state government is working to pump in raw water from Sungai Selangor into abandoned former mining sites to reduce reliance on the dam. The state has ordered also the Selangor Water Management Authority (LUAS) to contact the Thai government to use the country’s patented “Royal Rainmaking Technology” to boost cloud-seeding efforts and ensure rain falls in catchment areas, and undertaken other steps to increase water supply for the Klang Valley. “This technology will ensure previously unsuccessful cloud-seeding efforts will produce rain in the necessary areas, especially at the Sungai Selangor Dam,” Khalid said. He said roughly 1,000 litres of raw water daily can be expected to be produced using the Thai cloud-seeding technology, and added that if the effort shows positive signs in a week, the state is prepared to review its water rationing decision. Khalid said the state is also looking into tapping underground sources for up to 400 million litres of water daily, while waiting the 2015 completion of the Hybrid off River Augmentation System (HORAS). The first phase of the HORAS project underway now involves storing some 600 to 700 litres daily of stormwater and excess run-off from existing water treatment plants underground for use during the annual dry spell. Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas), the state’s main water utility firm, had first imposed water rationing in selected areas end February and expanded the coverage to over the last two months, impacting over one million consumers. The current rationing exercise was to have ended its run this month. Malaysia’s west coast have been experiencing an unseasonably long dry spell that is expected to continue into the second half of 2014, according to the Meteorological Department. Other states including Negri Sembilan to the south and Perak and Penang to the north have been similarly impacted by the drought. MMail
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