Heavy rains fill up dams

Brimming with water:Water level at one of the dams reaching maximum capacity on Friday.

PETALING JAYA: Heavy rains have now filled three of Selangor’s eight dams to maximum capacity with one recording a level of 101.5%.

The almost daily downpours also flooded two water treatment plants earlier last week, causing a shutdown of the plants and temporary supply disruption in parts of the Sabak Bernam and Hulu Selangor districts.

The Klang Gates and Langat dams both recorded 100% capacity yesterday, while the Batu dam stood at 101.5%, according to the website of the Selangor Water Management Authority (LUAS), which is in charge of the state’s dams.

The Sungai Selangor dam, which supplies water to 60% of the Klang Valley and whose level fell to nearly 30% of its capacity in September due to a long dry spell, is now at 61.89%.

LUAS director Md Khairi Selamat said the high level of water at the three dams did not pose any danger.

“The water level can go over 100%, and when it reaches a certain level past that mark, excess water will be chanelled out,” he said.

“The situation does not pose any danger as the dams are designed to accommodate the overflow with spillway structures,” said Khairi.

Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) said supply to affected parts of Hulu Selangor was now back to normal after the temporary shutdown of the Sungai Selisek treatment plant on Tuesday.

“We were notified by the treatment plant operator that heavy rains had caused the water level at Sungai Selisek to rise sharply, causing the plant to be flooded,” said Syabas corporate communications general manager Priscilla Alfred.

Syabas buys treated water from the treatment plant operators, then distributes it to nine million residents in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.

On Wednesday, the Bernam River Headwork treatment plant was shut down following heavy rains which caused the water level at Sungai Bernam to overflow its banks and flood the plant.

Supply to affected areas in Sabak Bernam returned to normal yesterday.

“It is not often that floods cause a shutdown but it does happen once in a while during heavy downpours,” said Alfred.

Association of Water and Energy Research (Awer) president S. Piarapakaran said that despite the heavy rains, supply disruptions could still happen because there was not enough treated water being produced to meet rising demand.

“It can rain cats and dogs for the next six months or so, but the supply of treated water is limited to how much the treatment plants can produce,” he said.

Measures to boost the supply of treated water in the Klang Valley, namely the Pahang-Selangor raw water transfer project and the Langat 2 treatment plant, are ongoing.