D. Kanyakumari The Star 13 Mar 14;
PETALING JAYA: The haze in Malaysia is worsening as 11 areas recorded increasingly unhealthy API readings as of 8am on Thursday.
The Klang Valley and Negri Sembilan recorded most of the high readings
The area with the highest reading is Kuala Selangor (155) followed by Nilai (143), Port Klang (137), Banting (134) and Putrajaya (124).
Other areas include Bukit Rambai (117), Seremban and Batu Muda (112), PJ (107), Shah Alam (103) and Sri Aman (101).
Areas like Sri Aman, Shah Alam and PJ actually recorded moderate readings as of 6am but worsened.
Other areas recorded moderate and healthy readings.
An API of between 51 to 100 is considered moderate, 101-200 unhealthy, 200-300 very unhealthy and 300 and above hazardous.
Air quality worsening in Selangor, Seremban
The Star 13 Mar 14;
PETALING JAYA: Unhealthy air levels have been recorded in Port Klang, Nilai, Banting, Putrajaya, Cheras, Kuala Selangor and Serem-ban.
According to the Department of Environment’s website, the air pollutant index (API) in Port Klang was 142 as at 5pm yesterday.
At noon, the reading in Port Klang was 132, progressively increasing to 133 at 1pm, 135 at 2pm, 136 at 3pm and 139 at 4pm. In Nilai, the API reading was 107 from noon to 2pm, rising to 108 at 3pm, 112 at 4pm and 118 at 5pm.
Banting experienced moderate API readings before 2pm but the air quality worsened to 113 at 3pm, 135 at 4pm and 107 at 5pm.
Putrajaya, Cheras, Kuala Selan-gor and Seremban experienced moderate readings early yesterday but the air quality worsened later.
At 5pm yesterday, API levels in Putrajaya was 110, Cheras 108, Kuala Selangor 104 and Seremban 102.
An API reading of between 0 and 50 is considered good, 51 to 100 moderate, 101 to 200 unhealthy, 201 to 300 very unhealthy, and 301 and above hazardous.
Unhealthy API levels may cause chest discomfort, coughs and shortness of breath.
Meteorological Department national weather centre director Muhammad Helmi Abdullah said it was not unusual for parts of Malaysia to experience hazy conditions during this time of the year as it was the dry season due to the end of the north-east monsoon season.
Firemen working non-stop Department responding to 500 calls every day this month
austin camoens The Star 13 Mar 14;
PETALING JAYA: The Fire and Rescue Department continued to have its hands full dealing with widespread incidents of peat and bushland fires nationwide.
Its director general Datuk Wan Mohd Nor Ibrahim said his department responded to a total of 6,463 fires, of which 5,256 were peat, bush and open fires for the past 12 days.
“On average, we have been responding to 500 calls every day this month for peat, bush and open fires.
“Just between 8am Tuesday and 8am yesterday, we responded to 643 calls regarding these fires,” he told The Star yesterday.
On states with the highest number of fires during that timeframe, Johor came out tops with 110, followed by Kedah (81), Perak (79), Selangor (74), Negri Sembilan (68), Malacca (57), Penang (50), Pahang (33), Sarawak (33) and Terengganu (18).
“We are still battling fires in Terengganu, Selangor, Pahang, and Perak.
“In these areas, we combated fires over a total of 2,931ha (7,244 acres) and have put out fires covering about 1,213ha (2,998 acres) of that figure,” he said, adding that his men were working themselves to the limit to fight these fires.
He said these fires were also contributing to the unhealthy air quality that several states were subjected to at the moment.
Wan Mohd Nor added that water shortage was also affecting operations to fight fires.
“If the weather pattern holds steady, we can expect more fires to start,” he said, urging people to refrain from burning rubbish, throwing cigarette butts indiscriminately as well as using fire for land clearing.
Water levels in Sungai Selangor Dam nearing critical level
patrick lee The Star 13 Mar 14;
PETALING JAYA: Water levels in Selangor's dams are reaching critical levels, with its largest - the Sungai Selangor Dam - recording a mere 40.53% capacity as of 8am Thursday.
According to the Selangor Water Management Authority (LUAS) website, the Sungai Selangor Dam which serves over 60% of the Klang Valley and Selangor's 7.1 million people was at 40.99% capacity at the same time Wednesday.
This was consistent with a statement by the Selangor government in early Feb that said that water in the dam was diminishing by 0.4% every day, a matter caused by a heatwave in the Peninsular lasting several weeks and lack of substantial rain in water catchment areas.
Selangor's other dams also showed worryingly low water levels: Batu (90.72%), Langat (61.53%), Semenyih (77.49%), Sg Tinggi (71.22%) and Tasik Subang (91.63%)
A previous The Star report cited sources saying that water levels at dams would be deemed critical if they were below 40%.
However, LUAS director Md Khairi Selamat disagreed with this figure, adding that the dam's critical capacity level was at 30%.
"If it continues like this, that is if it doesn't rain at all, we have about 30 days before it (Sg Selangor Dam) reaches critical level," he told The Star.
Selangor's depleting water resources have led the state to set up water rationing measures for the whole of March.
The state is currently going through a third phase of this measure, which according to the National Water Services Commission (SPAN) affects 722,032 households or about 3.6 million people.
As such, many households in the state have to face a two-day on and two-day off water availability pattern.
Brief rainfall in certain parts of the state has barely helped to increase water levels.
Cloud seeding operations have also been put on hold indefinitely as aircraft meant for this have been deployed to aid the search and rescue mission for missing flight MH370.
Meanwhile in Johor, thousands of households there will be forced to rely on water tankers due to dried-up rivers.
According to SPAN, the Sembrong Timur water treatment plant serving the Kluang district can now only produce less than 0.4 million litres (MLD) of treated water a day, as opposed to 31 MLD on normal days.
Johor water operator Syarikat Air Johor has mobilised 23 water tankers and 88 static tank to serve 4,075 water accounts there.
In the Mersing district, the Congok Dam has reached critical levels at 4.47m, forcing a two-day on and two-day off water release pattern for 6,418 accounts there.
In the Kulaijaya district, up to 1,172 accounts will be affected by a 12-hour on and 12-hour off water release pattern.
Finally, 4,839 accounts in Kota Tinggi district will be affected by a one-day on and one-day off water release pattern.
SPAN added that the water rationing measures for the affected Mersing, Kulaijaya and Kota Tinggi accounts will last from March 17 to March 31.
