Melaka dams not at critical level

Water levels are slightly low in Durian Tunggal Dam but Adly says it has not reached a critical stage yet.

MELAKA: Chief Minister Adly Zahari is urging people in Melaka to use water sparingly and report leakages following the lack of rainfall over the past week.

Adly said prudent management of water resources was necessary because of the persistent hot weather with minimal volume of rain reaching the major dams in the state.

“We still have sufficient supply as the levels at main dams such as Jus and Durian Tunggal have not reached the critical stage.

“But pre-emptive measures are essential to avoid panic at the eleventh hour,” he said at a press conference at Seri Negeri here.

Adly said the barometers at dams in Melaka were still at comfortable levels and the only worry was that the dry weather may drag out.

“Consumers should avoid excessive water usage at this juncture to avoid our dams from depleting further,” he said.

He said stakeholders should play a role in conserving water by reporting leakages and burst pipes to Syarikat Air Melaka Bhd (SAMB) at once.

Adly said the state has the lowest number of non-revenue water (NRW) cases and hoped to maintain it with the co-operation of the public.

He said the state was taking early steps because climate change could cause inflows into the supply dams to dwindle against a growing demand for water.

Adly said the onus was on his administration to ensure the efficient management of dams, while ensuring that residents do not go without the precious resource.

“We would only turn to rationing as a last resort,” he said.