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Emergency laws apply if water supply at critical level, says expert – Bernama

Selangor teruskan projek Langat 2 jika pemaju patuh syarat, kata exco

The country may enforce emergency laws if the supply of treated water reaches a dangerous level in mid-May, says Association of Water and Energy Research Malaysia president S. Piarapakaran.

He said the dry spell would affect the country again and this was against the backdrop of reservoir levels having not reached the minimum 55% yet.

The Klang Valley will avoid another water crisis only when the raw water reserve level in Selangor exceeds 55%.

"The Selangor Water Management Board has set 55% reserve raw water capacity as the minimum level that needed to be achieved. However, the capacity for the Sungai Selangor reservoir is still at 37% at present.

“The total treated water capacity that can be distributed from the water treatment plant is about 2,500 million litres per day and this has caused more than 50% of the water supply in the Klang Valley to depend on the Sungai Selangor reservoir," he said.

Piarapakaran said if the matter was not being rectified, the government would likely announce an emergency and enforce Section 56 of the Water Services Industry Act (WSIA) 2006.

He said WSIA was a specific law enforced during an emergency related to water supply consumption that was provided for by the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry.

Among the restrictions are banning water consumption generally or for certain use, limiting water consumption and production during certain times and imposing additional charges on usage that exceeded the limits.

The Meteorological Department said the country was expected to face a dry spell following the transition to the southwesterly monsoon from mid-May to September. – Bernama, April 16, 2014.