KOTA TINGGI: Cloud seeding is expected to be carried out for two days, to help increase the water level at a water treatment plant here, which supplies water to some 4,000 people, who have been forced to endure water cuts due to the dry season.
Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said that the water cuts were affecting residents from Felda Lok Heng and Felda Waha, who get their treated water from the Lok Heng water treatment plant.
He said that the present dry spell has caused the water level in Sg Ulu Sedili to drop drastically, rendering it unable to supply water to the treatment plant.
“Many mitigation efforts have been done by the state government with the relevant agencies, including trying to source groundwater using tube wells and also carrying out water transfer from Sg Kulah.
“However, these two efforts cannot be continued due to limited water supply and also due to Sg Lukah’s high salinity rate, which cannot be treated using the existing facilities at Lok Heng,” Mohamed Khaled, who is also Kota Tinggi MP, said in a posting on his Facebook.
He added that as an immediate measure, Ranhill-SAJ (the water concessionaire) would transfer and install a desalination plant from Forest City to Lok Heng, which would be able to produce about two million litres of treated water each day.
“Hopefully, this effort will be able to revive and stabilise the water supply as soon as possible and help the affected residents,” he said, adding that there were some delays in the implementation of the project.
Mohamed Khaled said that the cloud seeding was carried out yesterday and today.
“These two days were picked as the clouds were not suitable for cloud seeding earlier,” he said.
