Water rationing in Selangor will move into the third phase from March 10, bringing the total affected people to 3.6 million, says the National Water Services Commission (Span).

Span chief executive officer Teo Yen Hua said this followed the Selangor government’s decision to further reduce water released from the Sungai Selangor dam to ensure sustainable supply.

“The third phase of scheduled water distribution (rationing) will affect more users and areas.

“Compared with the second phase, which involves 431,167 households, the third phase will affect an additional 290,865 households, bringing the total to 722,032 households or 3.6 million people,” Teo said.

The latest rationing will mostly affect the same districts as before, but involve more areas.

The districts are Gombak, Kuala Selangor, Hulu Selangor, Petaling, Klang, Shah Alam, Kuala Langat, USJ-Subang Jaya and Kuala Lumpur.

Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) will carry out the rationing.

The second phase of rationing began on March 2 which affected 2.2 million people after the Selangor government reduced water released from the Sungai Selangor dam by 200 million litres per day (MLD) and the Klang Gates dam by 30 MLD.

Teo said Phase Three overrode the earlier phases which commenced on Feb 28.

“The first phase (of water rationing) involving the districts of Hulu Langat, Kuala Langat and and Sepang following the closing of the Cheras Batu 11 and Bukit Tampoi water treatment plants because of high ammonia content will continue,” he said, according to Bernama

Teo said the third phase of rationing was due to the continued receding water levels at seven dams in Selangor, namely Sungai Selangor, Sungai Tinggi, Sungai Semenyih, Sungai Langat, Klang Gates, Tasik Subang and Sungai Batu.

“For the Sungai Selangor dam, the water level last Friday was 196.35 metres while the level today was 194.10 metres, a drop of 2.25 metres in a week.

“From the aspect of water storage, the amount today was 43.24 percent compared 46.90 per cent last week, a fall of 3.66 percent which is a significant drop,” he said.

He said the Sungai Selangor and Sungai Tinggi dams channeled raw water to five water treatment plants which supplied 61 percent of the water requirements for Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.

In line with the dams’ standard operating procedures, the Selangor state government has decided to reduce water released from them by 500 million litres per day urgently, he said.

“This reduction affects the production capacity of the Sungai Selangor Phase  1 (SSP1), Sungai Selangor Phase 2 (SSP2), Sungai Selangor Phase 3 (SSP3), Rasa and Rantau Panjang water treatment plants,” he said.

As such, he said all the areas receiving their water supply from the five water treatment plants will experience reduction in water supply.

“Here I wish to inform that the use of water tankers will be minimised, unless absolutely necessary they will be sent to areas that do not receive water for more than 48 hours or to premises in critical need like dialysis centres, hospitals or events like funerals and weddings,” he added.