Adequate water supply, no rationing needed, says Selangor

The Sungai Selangor dam is pictured here as at July 25. A Selangor water authority has denied claims that the state dams have reached critical levels in terms of raw water supply. - The Malaysian Insider pic by Afif Abd Halim, August 2, 2014.Klang Valley residents have been assured that there were no plans to implement water rationing as the supply of raw water was still adequate.

Selangor Water Management Authority (Luas) director Md Khairi Selamat acknowledged that the public had been warned about a six-month dry spell due to the El Nino phenomenon.

"At present, there is still an adequate supply of raw water and rationing does not need to be carried out," he said in a statement today, in an apparent response to claims by Klang MP Charles Santiago, who had urged the Selangor government to impose water rationing.

Charles claimed that the raw water supply in Selangor had reached critical levels and it was time to begin rationing.

"The state government has carried out several measures in order to avoid imposing water rationing in Selangor," Khairi said.

"One of the measures implemented has been the optimum release of water from the Sungai Selangor dam and the Sungai Tinggi dam.

"Presently, 700 million and 500 million litres are being released daily from the two dams while the alternative ponds are releasing 500 million litres daily."

Furthermore, Khairi said, the water supply was also being augmented by continuous cloud seeding activities all over Selangor.

"The cloud seeding is being carried out by Luas with the cooperation of the Royal Malaysian Air Force and the Malaysian Meteorological Department, he said.

"Luas is predicting that alternative water supply from the ponds will be increased to 800 million litres daily by next week.

"This will help to reduce the amount of water being pumped from the two dams," he said.

Khairi stressed that based on information by Syarikat Pengeluar Air Sungai Selangor (Splash), the critical water level of the dam (30%) does not include dead water storage.

"The quantity of water in the alternative ponds has also been identified as being sufficient to provide adequate supply until October," he added.

Khairi said the monsoon season would have started by then, bringing regular and heavy rainfalls.

He assured the public that there was sufficient water supply in Sungai Selangor to avoid water disruptions or rationing.

Moreover, Khairi also assured the public that regular water sampling was carried out by the Selangor Health Department to ensure the quality was up to standard.

He urged all parties to cooperate with Luas instead of releasing statements which could cause anxiety and worry among consumers in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.

- TMI