Malaysia: Dam water level slowly rising

calvin tan The Star 10 May 14;

PETALING JAYA: The water level at the Sungai Selangor dam is continuing to rise slowly as more rain from seeded clouds hit catchment areas.

According to the Selangor Water Management Authority website, the water level at the dam stood at 41.14% as of 8am yesterday.

The water level was 36.53% on March 31, 38.97% on April 23, before hitting the 40% mark on April 28, prompting the lifting of water rationing exercise in the state.

The dam supplies water to over 60% of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Selangor.

Meteorological Department central forecasting office director Muhammad Helmi Abdullah said there had been significantly more rain hitting the water catchment areas “the past few days”.

“We are currently in the inter-monsoonal season which is one of the largest contributors of rain to the country.

“But the Sungai Selangor dam only received 100mm of rain whereas many other parts of the state received a copious amount of rain, about 200mm to 300mm,” he said, adding that it would take 20mm to increase the water level by 1% but the water was continuously being consumed.

“Fortunately, I have been witnessing increased rainfall around the water catchment compared to last month.”

Helmi said that the recent downpours over urban areas were not likely to be from seeded clouds.

“We target towering cumulus clouds around the water catchment areas and factor in wind directions to accelerate the rain there.

“Some seeded clouds may migrate to urban areas. However, there are vastly more unseeded clouds than seeded ones as our planes can only cover a limited area,” he said.

He said the southwest monsoon season, which would begin at the end of this month and last until September, would spell 20% to 40% less rain for the peninsular in June but would see a return to a “more or less normal” amount in July, August and September.

“So long as there is rain we can carry on with cloud seeding. We will continue until the water level in the dam reaches a satisfactory amount at around 55%,” he said.

Other dams which showed an improved water level yesterday included Sungai Tinggi at 66.68% and Klang Gates at 62.08% – up from 62.6% and 58.49%, respectively, on April 28.