stephen then The Star 4 Apr 19;
MIRI: Spaoh district in southern Sarawak has been hit by drought, and the Sarawak Fire and Rescue Department has deployed emergency supplies of treated water following appeals for help from residents.
Sarawak Bomba, in its latest updates Thursday (April 4), said some 22,000 litres of treated water have been sent via a Bomba tanker.
“This is the second day that Spaoh has been without water.
“Bomba carried out an act of community service and helped deliver the water to the residents,” it said.
The water was sourced from the district water-treatment plant.
Spaoh is located about 250km from Kuching.
Bomba Sarawak is also currently dealing with forest fires in many parts of the state.
Open burning ban stays, says Sabah DoE
MOHD IZHAM UNNIP ABDULLAH New Straits Times 4 Apr 19;
KOTA KINABALU: The ban on open burning in Sabah is still effective despite the arrival of the monsoon transition season that has brought rain to some areas late last month.
State Environment Department (DoE) director Tunku Khalkausar Tunku Fathahi, said despite the rain, not many locations received significant amount of rainfall, particularly forested areas which are prone to fire.
"Warnings on open burning are still being issued, so as not to affect the air quality. Compounds will be issued immediately, and all appeals will not be entertained," she said when contacted today.
Tunku Khalkausar said 64 written warnings, three notice commands, and 20 compounds had been issued thus far, and four investigation papers opened.
She said most of the open burning offences took place around Papar, Putatan, Kota Kinabalu, Sipitang, Tenom, Sandakan and Tawau districts.
The hot and dry season began in January due to the absence of rain in all parts of the state.
The Sabah Fire and Rescue Department reported that 1,706 open fire cases were recorded in the state during the first three months of the year.
Tuaran recorded the highest number of fire with 259 cases, followed by Kota Kinabalu (169 cases), Keningau (156), Kota Belud (139 cases), Penampang (129 cases) and Papar (129 cases).
From January to March, a total 954 cases of bush fires were recorded, followed by forest fires (528).
According to the Meteorological Department, there will be more frequent rainfalls in all parts of the state during the monsoon transition season from now until early May.
Weatherman: Dry spell on its way out in north
The Star 4 Apr 19;
GEORGE TOWN: The dry spell is expected to end for northern states with rain forecast in Penang, Perlis and Perak from this month till August.
The Malaysian Meteorological Department forecast that Perlis will be receiving between 100mm and 230mm of rainfall while Perak is expected to get 70mm to 330mm beginning April.
Penang will also be recording higher rainfall in early April with 170mm to 250mm compared to March where rainfall was recorded at 90mm to 120mm.
Following the intermittent rain which lasted for several hours in different parts of Penang on Monday, Penang Water Supply Corporation Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Jaseni Maidinsa said the rain helped raise dam capacities.
“On March 22, the dam’s effective capacity was only at 49.1%.
“As for the Teluk Bahang Dam we had 57mm of rain but the effective capacity is still going down at 69.7% because it is seven times bigger than the Ayer Itam dam and requires more rain to make an impact,” he said.
Jaseni said it had also been raining in Kedah and that the Sungai Muda levels had improved to 2.05m compared to 1.82m on March 22, which triggered the first level alert as it was below 2.0m.
“But even so, we still need more rain. Penangites should continue to use water wisely as our domestic per capita is still the highest in Malaysia at 278 litres per capita a day while the national average is 201 litres per capita a day,” he said.
“The national target is to reduce usage to 180 litres per capita a day. The United Nations’ recommendation is 160 litre per capita a day, so Penangites need to use less water,” he said.
