Manage water carefully, SPAN urges users

Precautionary measure: A resident checking on the water she had stored in barrels at Kg Sg Mas in Kota Tinggi.

PETALING JAYA: Manage your water very carefully from now before the situation turns critical. This is the advice to all state governments from the National Water Services Commission (SPAN).

It wants state governments to take steps to secure water for both consumption and irrigation, instead of waiting for a supply crisis.

The call came as an expert warned that the recent scattered afternoon rains, which accompanied the inter-monsoon season, were not enough to mitigate the impact of the El Nino weather phenomenon on the country.

SPAN chief executive Datuk Mohd Ridhuan Ismail said regardless of water levels in their dams, all states needed policies to get the public to conserve the resource.

He singled out Penang’s rigid no-rationing policy, which he said was not helping but compounding the problem.

Mohd Ridhuan pointed out that he was from Penang and was not criticising the state for the sake of it.

He added that the almost free water rates enjoyed by the public in Penang also sent the wrong message to consumers and did not promote conservation.

“It may be good for consumers there in the short term, but these policies can stress the state’s water supply,” he said.

He added that the no-rationing policy could mean Penang was not equipped with an adequate number of water tankers should there be a crisis.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said on Thursday that the state’s dams were getting drier by the hour due to El Nino and there would be a water crisis in two months if the rains did not come soon.

Mohd Ridhuan said water rationing scheduled to start in parts of Johor on Monday could be delayed if heavy rains fell over the weekend.

But he said consumers in Kota Tinggi and Mersing must still be prepared for water rationing.

SAJ Holdings Sdn Bhd is due to start scheduled water rationing to 85,000 domestic and industrial consumers in the Kota Tinggi and Mersing districts, starting from April 18 until May 15.

SPAN is also concerned with the dwindling water level in the Timah Tasoh dam in Perlis, which had only 15.7% of effective storage. The dam is used for both water supply and irrigation.

Over in Pahang, water treatment plants in Temerloh, Lipis and Chini were not operating at full capacity due to the reduction of raw water from rivers.

Consumers in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, however, have no cause for concern yet.

Air Selangor corporate communications head Amin Lin Abdullah said the water situation in Selangor was stable and all water treatment plants were fully operational.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Climatology and Oceano­graphy Prof Dr Fredolin Tangang said parts of Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah were still expected to be affected by the drought and hot weather.

He said the scattered afternoon rainfall as a result of the inter-monsoon season had not been enough to mitigate the impact of El Nino.

“Generally, I think there is still lack of moisture in the region because of the El Nino effect,” he said.

Dr Fredolin expects the weather to be back to normal in June.