Selangor dam levels still dropping

Come haze or shine: People exercising under hazy conditions at the Sultan Abdul Aziz recreational park in Ipoh.

PETALING JAYA: Dam levels in Selangor are continuing to drop in the face of prolonged hot and dry weather, raising the prospects of authorities having to enforce stringent water conservation efforts.

Association of Water and Energy Research Malaysia (Awer) president S. Piarapakaran said there was a de­­finite risk of water supply tightening for consumers in Selangor.

“If the dry weather continues and the projected inter-monsoon in September and October is affected, we would be heading for a more severe situation compared to the water crisis we had earlier this year.

“Cloud seeding is not necessarily a reliable method. There is no point seeding clouds with chemicals when there are no clouds to begin with,” he said.

As of yesterday, the Sungai Se­­langor dam, which supplies water to more than 60% of households in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putra­jaya, was at 37.02%, way below the acceptable level of 40%.

Hazy days are also making a comeback, with Seri Manjung in Perak reaching very unhealthy mark on the Air Pollutant Index (API) with a reading of 250, forcing the closure of 15 schools.

The six primary and nine secon­dary schools, with a total enrolment of 5,945, were ordered to close their afternoon sessions, said Perak education director Mohd Idris Ramli.

This morning’s session would also be cancelled if the index remained above 200, reported Ber­nama.

The primary schools affected were SK Seri Manjung, SK Kampung Dato Seri Kamarudin, SK Methodist (ACS), SK Methodist, SK Convent and SK Simpang Empat. The secon­dary schools were SMK Seri Manjung, SMK Ahmad Boestamam, SMK Seri Samudera, SMK Nan Hwa, SMK Methodist, SMK Methodist (ACS), SMK Tok Perdana, SMK Ambrose and SMK Dato Idris.

Tanjung Malim, Taiping and parts of Ipoh were also affected by the haze, with unhealthy API readings ranging between 114 and 121, while Kuala Selangor and Port Klang recorded 130 and 117 respectively.

An API reading of between zero and 50 indicates good air quality; between 51 and 100, moderate; between 101 and 200, unhealthy; between 201 and 300, very unhealthy and over 301, hazar­dous.