Keeping taps in Selangor flowing

TEMPORARY MEASURE: Federal Government averts crisis for now, but state must relent eventually




A meter indicating the level of the Hulu Langat balancing reservoir at 1m. The normal level is 5m. Pic by Effendy Rashid

PUTRAJAYA: MORE than 5.5 million people in Selangor have already been affected by constant water disruption over the last few years and their predicament will worsen in two years time.

Unless the stand-off over the Langat 2 water treatment plant project between the Selangor government and the Federal Government ends, people from seven high-density areas in the state will likely have to carry buckets of water to their homes regularly from trucks provided by the Federal Government.

However, Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Seri Peter Chin Fah Kui is hoping that his plan to offer a temporary reprieve goes off without glitches.

He told the New Straits Times that the Federal Government had implemented pocket water mitigation projects that he hoped could prevent taps in Petaling Jaya, Hulu Langat, Gombak, Kuala Langat, Sepang, Klang and southern Kuala Lumpur from running dry.

He said the eight mitigation projects, amounting to RM606 million, would channel water from Sungai Selangor and Rasa.

"The fast growing population and continuous migration from other states, coupled with industrialisation and urbanisation, will result in an increased demand for water and this will have serious consequences. The Selangor government's defiance is at the expense of the people in the state and the Federal Government will not let the crisis happen without trying to find a solution."

He said the first phase, which was in progress, cost RM275 million and would add 215 million litres a day to meet the state's demand until 2014, when it was expected to face a water crisis.

The project includes the upgrading of Sungai Selangor, replacing old pipes to reduce non-revenue water and upgrading the Sungai Bertam headworks pump system.

Projects under phase two, which could increase capacity by 481 million litres a day and meet demand until 2017, will include capacity redistribution of Sungai Selangor (expansion of pipelines), additional programmes for non-revenue water, bulk transfer of water from Rasa in Selangor to Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Bangi and Sepang.

Last week, Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd detected "severely low levels in the state's balancing reservoirs" for treated water due to the hot weather. Balancing reservoirs are the main dams where treated water is channelled into.

Low levels in the Semenyih and Langat balancing reservoirs and increased demand for water in the current dry spell had resulted in the cutting of water supply to Petaling, Kuala Lumpur, Hulu Langat and Sepang as well as forcing all 34 treatment plants in the state to be overworked.

"The Pahang-Selangor raw water transfer scheme, which was supposed to be completed in 2014, was to avert a major water crisis for Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya."

The scheme consists of two components; the Pahang-Selangor raw water treatment plant and the construction of the Langat 2 water treatment plant.

He said the first component had been implemented according to schedule, while the construction of Langat 2 had been delayed due to the refusal of the Pakatan Rakyat-led government to give approvals for the implementation of the project.

"By right we should be in our third year on the project, in time for completion by 2014 ... now the focus is to ensure there is sufficient treated water until 2017, and we hope these mitigation projects could do that."

He, however, cautioned that the mitigation projects were not long-term solutions as the plants to mitigate the problem would not be able to cater to the growing population.