SHAH ALAM, 21 Feb: The raw water supply in Selangor is still at a safe level, despite facing hot and dry weather, and can last up to five months.

The Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, said that the State Government will still make preparations if the hot weather continues for a longer period.

He said among the preparations drafted is to work with a private company to obtain groundwater.

“Mega Steel told the State Government that if there is not enough water, we can pump water from underground. My answer was to not do it yet for the moment.

“The reason is that we have three, four months (of raw water) to wait for one month (before) the monsoon season,” he told reporters after attending a briefing on the Selangor water issue.

Previously, a newspaper reported that the water storage in all reservoirs across the country has been projected to only supply water for one to three months if the hot and dry weather persists.

Prior to this, during the briefing session, Abdul Khalid explained that the main cause of the lack in treated water is the loss of non-revenue water (NRW) caused by pipe leakages.

“Under the agreement, the Selangor Water Supply Company (Syabas) needs to reduce NRW from 30 percent to 20 percent, but that did not happen.

“Therefore, the State Government needs to solve this problem if the water industry restructuring takes place,” he added.

In other developments, Abdul Khalid said that an announcement on the progress of the water negotiations with the Federal Government will take place in two weeks.