Water rationing extended in JB, Kota Tinggi

JOHOR BARU: The prolonged water woes here and Kota Tinggi are far from over as the scheduled water rationing will continue until December.

Water concessionaire SAJ Holdings Sdn Bhd (SAJ) said it has the approval of the National Water Services Commission (SPAN) to extend the exercise from Nov 16 until Dec 15 in view of the critical levels of two dams here.

SAJ corporate communications head Jamaluddin Jamil said that they were forced to take such steps especially due to the worsening state of the Sungai Lebam dam, which recorded water level of only 8.19m.

The other affected dam in Sungai Layang 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 66,496 users in Mukim Tanjung Surat, Mukim Pantai Timur, Mukim Pengerang and parts of Kota Tinggi.

Jamaluddin noted that rainfall in the past few days failed to restore the water levels at the two dams, forcing the extension in the scheduled water exercise.

“However, if the water levels at the dams were able to return to normal and non-critical levels, the scheduled water exercise will be called off.

“We will keep monitoring the situation and keep consumers up-to-date on the latest developments,” he said.

Jamaluddin said that among the steps taken by SAJ to increase the water levels at the two dams were cloud seeing and transferring raw water from Sungai Papan to the Sungai Lebam dam as well as from Sungai Tiram to the Sungai Layang dam.

The scheduled water exercise began on Aug 16 until Sept 15 before it was extended twice until November due to the worsening water levels at the two dams.

For details, call 1 800 88 7474 (SAJ Info Centre), SMS to 019-772 7474 or email [e-mail].