Malaysia: Heat causes new set of woes for nation

New Straits Times 22 Feb 14;

KUALA LUMPUR: The punishing heat that is sending the mercury soaring is threatening another set of problems for Malaysians.

The Fire and Rescue Department is bracing for "more critical" peat and bush fires in the days ahead, as more areas dry up.

Their hope for a reprieve looked bleak as the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MMD) said yesterday the dry spell was expected to persist until next month.

Its director-general Datuk Wan Mohd Nor Ibrahim said areas marked as "extreme" (areas with very high fire intensity in grass) had been recording an "unusually drastic increase" in fires since the end of last month, with an average of 300 cases daily.

The department had, since Jan 29, recorded 6,996 cases of fires. Currently, there are 11 peat land fires burning, with firefighters working round the clock to put them out.

"Peat land takes a longer time to dry, so if there's no change in the weather pattern in the next seven to 14 days, we could be seeing more fires here. This will pose a serious problem as peat fires can't be put out easily. This will, in turn, cause the haze situation to worsen."

He said his 14,000-strong men in the field were on standby in case of a fire break out at peatland areas in Batu Arang and Johan Setia (Selangor), Dungun, Kemaman (Terengganu), and Pekan (Pahang) as well as areas surrounding Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang.

Johor recorded the highest number of peat fires with 69 cases, followed by Selangor (63) Malacca (40) Kedah (33), Perak (21), Perlis (13), Pahang (nine), Terengganu (nine), Sarawak (eight), Penang (four), and Sabah (three). There were seven cases each in Kuala Lumpur and Negri Sembilan.

MMD commercial and corporate services division director Dr Mohd Hisham Mohd Anip said the hot and dry season would persist until the middle of next month and this could result in more peat fires and a critical haze situation for the country.

He said Malaysia could also expect another round of haze in June, if open burning is conducted in Sumatera, as this would be when the wind direction would turn this way. Currently, the wind is blowing from the South China Sea.

Hisham said several places in Kedah and Malacca had not had rainfall for more than 40 days now because of the dry spell, a result of the northeast monsoon coming to an end.

"This happens periodically, but this counts as one of the worst. The worst dry season that the country experienced was in the 1980s, where some places did not have rain for more than 70 days."

He said more peat and bush fires were occurring in the northern region because of the high temperature and minimal moisture in the air.

He also attributed the haze in the Klang Valley to the large amount of combustion and emissions from various sources, including open burning and development.

This, he added, was compounded by the light and low levels of wind over most parts of Peninsular Malaysia.

"The wind in many areas has caused dry haze particles in the atmosphere to remain almost stationary," he said adding that satellite images on Thursday showed a sharp rise in hot spots in Sumatera.

On Tuesday, there were 46 such hot spots. The number increased to 80 on Wednesday and 111 on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Department of Environment said it was monitoring the situation in 338 "hot spots" nationwide.

It was also preparing for the impact of the fire at 1,977 hot spots in Sumatera and another 1,048 in Kalimantan, Indonesia.

Cloud seeding ops to begin
patrick lee, sarban singh, ivan loh, s. puspadevi, AND nicholas cheng The Star 22 Feb 14;

PETALING JAYA: Cloud seeding is expected to take place from next Tuesday over water catchment areas in four states hit hard by the dry weather.

Meteorological Department senior meteorologist Azhar Ishak confirmed that the cloud seeding exercise was likely to occur over catchment areas of dams in Selangor, Johor, Malacca and Negri Sembilan from Feb 25 or 26 onwards.

“It’s not certain, but there’s a good chance that cloud seeding will be done on those days,” he said, adding that the seeding was dependent on suitable weather conditions.

He said that up to this point, it had not rained in dam catchment areas but in isolated areas instead.

Azhar said the Royal Air Force would take charge of cloud seeding operations once weather conditions permitted, adding that the material used for the operation was safe and that ordinary salt would be used to seed the clouds.

In a related matter, water levels at dams across Selangor were reduced, with the Sungai Selangor Dam – the state’s largest – the hardest hit, at 51.39% capacity Friday morning.

The dam, which serves 60% of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur’s water needs, recorded 57.63% capacity on Feb 12. Other dams’ capacity yesterday were: Tasik Subang (96.26%), Sungai Tinggi (80.68%), Semenyih (89.06%), Langat (76.10%), Klang Gates (55.22%), Batu (91.69%).

Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) said consumer water usage had not dropped despite warnings that resources were depleting.

Its corporate communications and public affairs assistant general manager Priscilla Alfred said there was barely enough treated water in Selangor’s pipes for everyone.

“We have a water reserve margin of 0.73% of the total supply,” she said.

Malaysian Water Association president Syed Mohamed Alhabshi said there needed to be a minimum reserve margin of 10%, calling it a “security of supply”.

“If you have that kind of margin, then if a treatment plant shuts down, other plants can help send water,” he said.

He said the construction of the Langat 2 treatment plant, along with raw water from Pahang, would help to increase the buffer up to 10%

Two water treatment plants have shut down due to high levels of ammonia in the Langat river, affecting 27,000 households.

A further 83,000 households are facing low water pressure and service disruptions due to high water use in the state.

Moderate API readings in central peninsula
The Star 22 Feb 14;

KUALA LUMPUR: Healthy air levels were recorded in the north and south of the peninsula, while the central region recorded moderate levels on the Air Pollutant Index (API).

The Department of Environment said yesterday that Port Klang recorded a reading of 65 while Petaling Jaya and Shah Alam recorde­d 52 and 57 respectively.

Air quality in the city centre and Federal Territories was healthy, with Cheras at 30 and Batu Muda and Putrajaya at 36.

API readings of 101 to 200 are considered unhealthy. Those between 201 and 300 are deemed very unhealthy. Readings above 301 are classified as hazardous.

Fruit growers hit hard by dry spell
The Star 22 Feb 14;

IPOH: The hot and dry spell is wreaking havoc on farms in the state, with many fruit growers lamenting that the lack of rain is stunting the growth of their produce.

Pomelo grower Chan Chuen Fatt, 51, said it had not rained in his area in Ulu Piah, near Ampang here, for about three weeks.

He said he had expected the hot weather since Chinese New Year and had been prepared to overcome the lack of rainwater to tend to his orchard.

“I have a water-pumping machine to water the trees. It was working fine but it broke down last week. Now I have to source for water from nearby ponds for my trees but the weather has already stunted the growth of some of the fruits,” he said.

Another farmer, Lau Poon, said he was worried about the fruits at his orchard in Bidor.

Lau, who grows guava and rose apples, said the fruits needed a lot of water for them to develop fully.

“We are just entering the fruiting phase and I am really worried that this batch will be affected,” he said.

The Malaysian Meteorological Department website has forecast a week of cloudy weather and rainfall in the state. It noted that there would be isolated rainfall during the afternoon beginning today.