The Star 28 Mar 14;
PETALING JAYA: Water rationing has been called off in five districts in Johor and Negri Sembilan following recent rains in Peninsular Malaysia. However, rationing will continue in parts of Selangor.
The National Water Services Commission, SPAN, said water would flow normally in Kluang, Kulai Jaya and Kota Tinggi in Johor as well as Jempol and Tampin districts in Negri Sembilan.
“Rains that fell last week in these three states have increased river levels supplying raw water to water treatment plants there,” a spokesman said.
SPAN, however, warned that rationing might be re-introduced if water levels in these places declined again to critical levels.
The spokesman said water levels in Negri Sembilan’s Muar River had increased although the Gemencheh Dam was only 1.22m above the critical level of 98m.
Rationing would continue in Johor’s Mersing district as the Congok Dam level dropped to 4.27m, below the critical level of 4.5m. In Selangor, rationing returned to certain Hulu Langat areas when the Batu 11 (Cheras) water treatment plant was shut down on March 25 despite resuming operations on March 17.
This, according to SPAN, was due to ammonia content in the plant’s treated water breaching the safe level of 1.5 parts per million (ppm).
The Bukit Tampoi plant might suffer the same fate if ammonia content in the Langat River reached such a level.
Selangor’s seven dams, according to the Selangor Water Management Authority, all saw lower water levels than last week: 90.26% (Batu), 50.46% (Klang Gates), 51.18% (Langat), 73.20% (Semenyih), 37.09% (Sungai Selangor), 63.80% (Sungai Tinggi) and 88.68% (Tasik Subang).
SPAN said that rationing in Selangor, affecting some 3.6 million people in Gombak, Petaling, Klang, Shah Alam, Kuala Selangor, Hulu Selangor and Kuala Lumpur would continue.
