Malaysia: Another long dry spell expected, says climate expert

p. aruna, a. ruban, ivan loh, christopher tan, vincent tan, AND calvin tan The Star 3 Apr 14;

PETALING JAYA: The rainy season has started, but it may not be all good news.

Although the intermonsoon season has begun, an expert says another long dry spell is expected between June and October this year.

Biodiversity and climate expert Faizal Parish also said the current intermonsoon season, which is expected to last until the middle of May, will not see as much rain as in previous years.

“We are likely to get another long, dry period from June until October this year, according to latest predictions by the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre in Singapore. We also expect less rain than usual in April,” he said.

“If there is not enough rain over the next two months, water reserves will still be low during the next dry season, with the possibility of another water shortage and more rationing.”

The second dry season, he said, would also bring the annual haze with a high risk of forest and peatland fires. The recent dry spell throughout January and February had caused water levels at dams to drop to near-critical levels.

Authorities were forced to impose a water rationing exercise in the Klang Valley, which is now entering its fourth phase, affecting some 6.7 million people.

Faizal, who is director of the Global Environment Centre here added that the dry spells were linked to global climate change, and such extreme events, were becoming more frequent, not just in Malaysia.

“Rapid development can also be a contributing factor as the loss of forest impacts local climate and rainfall,” he said.

Rationing to start in Taiping area from today
The Star 3 Apr 14;

IPOH: Water rationing starts in Taiping and surrounding areas today. This is despite the “slightly improved” water level at the Headwood water treatment plant.

The water rationing is expected to be enforced for about two weeks.

“The Perak Water Board (LAP) still needs to ensure that water supply to the people would not be disrupted,” Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir told reporters after presenting cheques to three Tamil schools at the State Secretariat building here yesterday.

He said the output of water at the Headwood plant had improved from 26 million litres to 31 million litres per day.

“The water level at the treatment plant is no longer at critical level but the water rationing exercise will still be carried out,” he said, adding that the water rationing was expected to be enforced until April 16.

There is no rationing in other parts of Perak.

Dr Zambry, however, noted that the water level at the Air Kuning dam had started to decrease due to the dry weather.

“The water level is dropping as water continues to evaporate, compounded by the lack of rainfall in the area.”

LAP general manager Datuk Mohd Yusof Mohd Isa clarified that the water level at the Air Kuning dam would be at a critical level if it reached 34m. The current level is 38.1m while the maximum level is 43m.

Dr Zambry said LAP was the best-managed water agency in the country with the lowest amount of non-revenue water (NRW), referring to the volume of lost water for various reasons.

“Water loss is not only from burst pipes but also because of theft,” he said.

“However, this is not an excuse and we will ensure the NRW will be minimised annually,” he added.

Water rates to go up in Penang to curb rising demand
The Star 3 Apr 14;

GEORGE TOWN: Penangites will be asked to pay more for their water soon as a means to curb rising demand, especially in light of the prolonged drought, said Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

He said the move was necessary as the soft approach of educating people to reduce water consumption had failed, adding that the last tariff revision was 23 years ago.

“The hike in the tariff is inevitable, but I cannot disclose when the hike will take place as studies, which will take not more than a year, need to be done,” he said yesterday.

Lim gave an assurance that even with the hike, Penang’s water tariff would remain the cheapest in the country.

He said the Penang Water Supply Corporation Sdn Bhd (PBAPP) had asked permission to study the water tariff and the state government had agreed.

Lim revealed that PBAPP had submitted a few business models for the state’s consideration.

“The models need to be submitted to the state exco for approval before being submitted to the National Water Services Commission, which has the final say,” he said.

Lim added that water consumption in Penang was currently the highest in the country – at 295 litres per person per day last year, followed by Perlis (241 litres), Labuan (240 litres) and Perak (238 litres).

For the first two months of this year, Penang’s figure increased to 311.

“The United Nations’ recommendation for domestic water consumption is 100 litres per person per day. In Singapore, the figure is 151.”

Meanwhile, Lim said water rationing would not be implemented in Penang this month because of PBAPP’s efficient supply management.

“If April proves to be another dry month, the state and PBAPP will implement a contingency action plan to avoid water rationing,” said Lim, adding that there were also plans to ask the Federal Government to initiate cloud seeding over the Sungai Muda Dam catchment area.

He said that as of yesterday, there was enough water at the Teluk Bahang Dam for 233 days, Air Itam Dam for 63 days and Mengkuang Dam for 64 days.

Penang Consumer Protection Association president K. Koris Atan said the hike was timely and long overdue.

MB: Rationing will stop when a dam's capacity hits 55%
The Star 3 Apr 14;

SHAH ALAM: The water rationing exercise will only be called off when a dam’s capacity has hit 55%, said Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.

The Selangor Mentri Besar pointed out that as of yesterday, those in the state were below the 40% mark. As of Tuesday, the Sungai Selangor dam in Kuala Kubu Baru recorded a 36.67% capacity. Its critical level is 30%.

However, Khalid said the water rationing exercise would most likely not be continued after the end of April. “It has already started raining,” he added.

On the state’s restructuring of its water industry, Khalid said he would meet Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili tomorrow to discuss the modus operandi to invoke Section 114 of the Water Services Industry Act 2006.

“Both governments are in the midst of studying the suitable steps in invoking Section 114 so that no one is affected from the restructuring exercise,” he said after chairing the weekly executive council meeting yesterday.

Section 114 allows the Selangor government to buy over assets of the four concessionaries for RM7.76bil – about RM2bil lesser than the previous offers made.

The concessionaries are Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas), Puncak Niaga Sdn Bhd (PNSB), Syarikat Pengeluar Air Selangor Holdings Bhd (Splash) and Konsortium Abbas Sdn Bhd (Abbas). Only Abbas has accepted the initial RM9.65bil offer.

“Although the discussion is taking a long time, it is necessary to ensure that the implementation will be carried out smoothly and could not be challenged in court later,” Khalid said.

The Selangor government, he noted, was confident that the water restructuring would be carried through with the role played by the Federal Government, particularly the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry.

On a state-linked hotel that had to cease operations and retrench more than 100 of its staff at the end of next month, Khalid said he had yet to be briefed on this.

Defending the hotel’s move in doing so, Khalid said Quality hotel, under Kumpulan Perangsang Selangor Bhd, had adhered to all code of ethics in the Industrial Relations Act 1957.

Hoping showers will solve water woes
The Star 3 Apr 14;

PETALING JAYA: Although water reserve levels are dipping at all Selangor dams, the Meteorological Department has “high hopes” that the water shortage will be resolved soon, with more “showers and storms” expected this month.

Department central forecasting office director Muhammad Helmi Abdullah said the intermonsoon season which had just begun would bring rain for about 20 days or “two-thirds of the month”.

“Most of the rain is expected in the west coast but we also expect more rain in the inland areas of the east coast of the peninsula as well as in Sabah and Sarawak,” he said.

The fourth phase of the water rationing exercise was announced on Tuesday by the National Water Services Commis­sion (SPAN) despite the rain over the past two weeks.

Muhammad Helmi said many of the dams were not filling up because much of the rain was not falling in catchment areas.

“It is difficult to tell when the rain will fall over water catchment areas or the dams, but we are targeting these areas through cloud-seeding operations.

“We calculate the movement of the clouds in terms of how fast they move and in which direction, and plan cloud-seeding operations based on these data.

“The recent rain has been a combination of rain induced by cloud seeding and natural rain,” he said yesterday.

Cloud seeding, he said, could also increase the volume of water in natural rain.

The frequency of the operations, however, depended on the availability of aircraft and the weather.

Another reason the recent rains have failed to increase water levels at the dams is because more water is absorbed into the land because of the long dry spell.

“As it was dry for a long period, the land is very dry and more water seeps through the ground than usual, so more water is lost,” he said.

According to the Selangor Water Management Authority (Luas) website, the water storage levels at the Sungai Selangor Dam had dropped to 36.67% of its capacity yesterday, close to the critical point of 30%.

The other dams have also seen lower water levels than the earlier day – Batu was at 90.08% yesterday, Klang Gates 50.04%, Langat 48.74%, Semenyih 71.12% , Sungai Tinggi 61.39% and Tasik Subang 87.70% .