DAP urges the Johor government to declare a water crisis in the southern states as dams hit critical levels, despite the monsoon season.
Its Kluang MP Liew Chin Tong said a crisis is looming because the Layang and Lebam water levels are drying at an “unprecedented” pace.
Water rationing is imposed on some parts of Johor Bahru, Pasir Gudang, Masai and Pengerang from Aug 15 to Dec 15.
“If there is insufficient rainfall in the dam’s catchment areas in the next six weeks, a major water crisis will happen in Southern Johor in the first quarter of 2016,” he said.
The Sungai Layang dam, which serves is at 19.29 metres, much lower that critical level of 23.5 metres, while water levels at Sungai Lebam dam is a mere eight meters, when critical level is at 12.27 metres.
Both damn serve 633,000 consumers, he said, citing a briefing by Syarikat Air Johor (SAJ Holdings) to opposition elected representatives and other stakeholders yesterday.
“We urge Menteri Besar Khaled Nordin, for the sake of Bangsa Johor, to take a bi-partisan approach in the handling of the crisis.
“In the interests of the Johor water users, I would like to suggest to Khaled to form a Select Committee on Water Crisis comprising of state assemblypersons from both sides to form a bi-partisan consensus on the looming crisis as well as longer term policy re-thinking to ensure that Johor is freed of water crises in the decades to come,” Liew said in a statement.
Liew said the state’s shift to rain water harvesting and studying the impact of palm oil plantations on catchment areas is commendable but a long-term solution need to be worked
The state’s commissioned RM4 million project to transfer 30 million litres of raw water from Sungai Papan and Sungai Tiram to the dams may also be insufficient, he said.
The state has tried cloud seeding, but SAJ Holdings told the delegation that it has failed to produce rain at catchment areas.
While torrential rain is causing flash floods in Johor Bahru today, SAJ Holding said the heavy rains have yet to fill up the dams.
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