JOHOR BARU: Cloud seeding operations have started in Johor as the state desperately needs heavy rain to help fill up water capacity at all dams statewide.
Johor Water Regulatory Body (Bakaj) director Mohd Riduan Mohd Ali said the operations, which started on Oct 12, would be carried out until end of the month.
"We will make about 20 flights and each operation will take between two and three hours,'' he said in a press statement on Monday.
Mohd Riduan said the operations would focus on areas near the Sungai Layang dam in Masai, Pasir Gudang and the Sungai Lebam dam in Kota Tinggi.
Others dams include the Machap dam, Chongok dam, Juaseh dam and Sembrong dam.
He said the cloud seeding activities was handled by the National Security Council, Department of Civil Aviation, the Meteorological Department and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore.
According to SAJ Holdings Sdn Bhd (SAJ) corporate communications head Jamaluddin Jamil said the water levels at both Sungai Layang and Sungai Lebam dams had dropped drastically.
He said the water level at the Sungai Layang dam had dropped to 19.71m (critical level) from 23.50m while the Sungai Lebam dam dropped to 8.8m from 12.27m.
The Sungai Layang dam supplies water to 580,000 consumers in Pasir Gudang and Masai, mostly industrial users and several parts of Johor Baru.
The Sungai Lebam dam in Kota Tinggi, channels water to about 66,495 users in Mukim Tanjung Surat, Mukim Pantai Timur, Mukim Pengerang and parts of Kota Tinggi.
Jamaluddin said the water level at the two dams was still at the critical stage although heavy rains were recorded in several parts of southern Johor in the last few days.
He said SAJ had to extend the scheduled water rationing (SWR) at several parts of the Johor Baru, Masai, Pasir Gudang and Pengerang in Kota Tinggi from Oct 16 to Nov 15.
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