SHAH ALAM, 23 Apr: The State Government expects for the water rationing programme to end earlier if the water pumping operations from former mines around the Sungai Selangor Basin to Sungai Selangor manages to increase the water capacity from 42 to 43 percent.
This was following the decision by the Selangor State Government Council (MMKN) today which approved the allocation of RM10 million to build the infrastructure for water pumping operations.
The Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, said that these provisions include finance to purchase 10 high-capacity pumps to ensure that the pumping operation provides maximum effect in raising the water level of Sungai Selangor.
“Previously, we thought that we must increase it to 50 percent before the rationing can end, but now, because we have sources not just from dams, we can end the water rationing even by increasing it from 39 percent to 42 or 43 percent.
“The pump is capable of pumping 50 million litres of water a day. There are calculations for every second and it will operate for 10 hours a day,” said Abdul Khalid as soon as the MMKN session ended today.
He added that water will be pumped from nine mine storage around Sungai Selangor.
“These mines were once former tin mines, but have not been in operation for over 20 years. The State Government will definitely keep these mines,” he added.
Abdul Khalid said that the pumping operations, which started three days ago, is being handled by the Selangor Water Management Authority (LUAS) and the Selangor Department of Irrigation and Drainage, under the supervision of the Executive Councillor of Infrastructure and Public Utilities.
These infrastructure and pumps can be used to pump water from Sungai Selangor to reservoirs when the water level reached normal levels, in preparation for the dry season which is predicted to take place from May to September this year.
Abdul Khalid added that the State Government will hold press conferences every two days to provide information on current updates of the raw water supply, starting Friday.
Meanwhile, the water level reading for the Sungai Selangor Dam, as of 8 this morning, still shows that it is below the critical level, at 38.97 percent, with a total of 89.63 million cubic litres of water.
