KUALA LUMPUR, 6 Apr: The people of Selangor have been urged to save water to ensure continuous water supply at dams, especially in unpredictable weather conditions.

State Executive Councillor, Dr Ahmad Yunus Hairi, said that savings should also be made to face the dry season, which is expected to happen again in September.

He said that consumers have still not achieved the desired level of savings despite rationing measures.

“As reported in a newspaper, since the rationing was implemented, there has only been seven percent of savings by consumers when we expected 25 percent.

“It is hoped that every consumer will optimise the use of water to basics such as bathing, coking and drinking, and not for other things such as watering plants and washing cars,” he said in a press conference after inaugurating the World Water Day 2014 for the state of Selangor at the One Uama (OU) Shopping Mall yesterday.

Also present was the Director of the State Economic Planning Unit (UPEN), Datuk Roslan Sakiman; the Manager of the Selangor Water Management Authority (LUAS), Md Khairi Selamat and the Director of OU, Datuk Ir Teo Chiang Kok.

At the beginning of this month, the State Government launched the fourth stage of the water rationing programme involving a greater area than before.

Yunus said that the rationing programme is not exercised arbitrarily by the State Government but for the sake of the common good.

“We are implementing the water rationing because we fear non-continuous rain and dam levels have not reached a safe percentage. The rationing is also carried out not according the groups of people, whether medium, low or the elite,” he said.

Earlier, the Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, announced that the water rationing will be stopped if the water level in the Sungai Selangor dam reached 5 percent.