Negri Sembilan to begin water rationing Thursday, 3,000 households affected

SEREMBAN: Water rationing will start in parts of Jempol and Gemas from Thursday, with residents in affected areas to get water supply every other day.

The move will affect some 3,000 households in the Bukit Jalor, Bukit Rokan, and Palong Felda land schemes as well as parts of Gemas including the sprawling Syed Sirajuddin army camp.

The authorities were forced to ration water as the unusually long dry spell had caused the water level at Sungai Ulu Muar to decline, said state Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.

"Due to lack of raw water supply, the Sg Gemas treatment plant which supplies water to these residents has been unable to operate as per usual.

"The river water level has also fallen as there are four water treatment plants along the river with the one in Sg Gemas being the last," he told reporters here Wednesday.

Mohamad said the prolonged dry spell had also caused water level at the Gemencheh dam to fall rapidly. As of Wednesday, the level had declined to 99.62m, just above the critical level of 98m.

He said if the dry spell continued, the authorities will be forced to start water rationing in parts of Rembau, Tampin,

Gemencheh and the rest of Gemas from March 25.

The move, he said, would potentially affect about 30,000 households.

Mohamad said the water level at the Gemencheh dam had fallen rapidly as one of the two rivers where it sourced raw water from had completely dried up.

"In fact, the other river is also almost dried up," he said.

He said the authorities were also unable to pump raw water into the Gemencheh dam as it operated independently compared with the other dams in the state, which were interconnected through underground pipes.

Mohamad said despite rain on Sunday and Tuesday, water levels at three other major dams here have continued to decline.

"The cloud seeding was successful, but it unfortunately did not rain in the catchment areas," he said.

Mohamad said he had also instructed the state secretary to discuss the possibility of buying water from Syarikat Air Johor with his counterpart in Johor if the dry spell persisted.