KULAI: The Ministry of Environment and Water (KASA) has so far received one complaint on water supply disruption from residents in Baling, Kedah following the current hot weather, said its Minister Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man (pix).
He said the supply disruption is expected to continue until the middle of next month.
“Kedah water utility company Syarikat Air Darul Aman Sdn. Bhd (SADA) will continue to deliver water to the affected residents through tankers right to their doorstep.
“So far there are no complaints from other areas and the state water utility companies will monitor the situation and have water delivered if the need arises,“ he told reporters at the handover of the first water access project at Kampung Melayu, Seelong, Senai, here, today
He said this in commenting on measures taken by the government to address the drop in reservoir water level during the current hot weather.
Tuan Ibrahim said the ministry has several contingency plans to ensure continuous supply of water despite the long period of hot weather.
Among the plans is to increase the number of riverside reservoirs or TAPS (Takungan Air Pinggiran Sungai) throughout the country.
“Our focus is to build TAPS close to water treatment plants to save costs as water will be channelled directly from the rivers.
“At the same time, the ministry is also developing a water grading system to be able to sell better quality water at a reasonable price to suppliers,“ he said.
“If water is graded under certain categories, it can be sold at double the price and in this way, the state government will not only earn more revenue from water sales but will also monitor the raw water sources better,“ he said adding that the mechanism would be prepared by middle of this year.
Meanwhile, commenting on the black patches detected in Sungai Kim Kim, Pasir Gudang, Tuan Ibrahim did not rule out the possibility that the incident was the result of waste dumping from nearby factories.
However, he said the black patches has not resulted in odour pollution but only the colour of the water has turned black and murky and the situation was under control.
On the water access project launched on Dec 17, he said it was one of five projects planned for residents experiencing untreated water supply problems.
He said, four more projects would be handed over to recipients latest by April for the benefit of some 200 residents in Selangor, a surau in Perak, 100 residents in Pahang and 200 residents in Negeri Sembilan. — Bernama
