Indecision causing water crisis

The water level at the Sungai Selangor Dam that has dropped by 13m in recent weeks due to releases that have to be made in order to ensure adequate drinking water for Klang Valley folk.

LOW treated water reserve margin has been behind the water crisis in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya for the past few years. We raised this issue in 2011 but we were accused of providing misleading information and called a number of unsavoury names as well.

Reserve margin is the extra distributable capacity after meeting the current demand. The reserve margin allows the treatment plant to cater to any sudden increase in demand or unforeseen water shortage. It is vital to ensure that there is a sufficient reserve margin during scheduled (maintenance and pipe replacement) and unscheduled (low level of raw water, major pipe burst, raw water pollution and sudden breakdown) disruptions in supply. The reserve margin will reduce the impact of water disruption at the affected areas as well as speed up recovery when the supply is restored.