SEREMBAN: Water supply to 15,028 households in Tampin and Rembau districts will be rationed on alternate days, starting Sept 22.
The water-rationing exercise, affecting more than 75,000 people, will cease once the water level at the Gemencheh dam returns to a safe mark of 99m.
Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said the dam’s water level had reached a critical stage at 95.25m on Monday.
“The water-rationing exercise is aimed at prolonging the supply from the Gemencheh dam. We have also planned a medium-term solution, which will see a water-pumping system built to pump water from Sungai Jelai in Kampung Geduhom to the dam through the Johol plantation area.
“The project is expected to start next month and will be completed by August next year,” he said at Wisma Negeri here yesterday.
The state government is also viewing the construction of the Sawah Raja Water Plant Phase 2, which will start in March next year and take 36 months to complete, as a long-term plan to end water shortage problem at the dam.
Mohamad said the declining water level at Gemencheh dam was due to several factors, including the drying up of its tributaries and failed cloud-seeding efforts.
He said the state government had discussed the matter with the Meteorological Department to carry out more cloud-seeding exercises soon.
The exercises will see water supply to Tampin and Rembau disrupted alternately for a month, except for weekends and public holidays, and it will be done every other month until the dam’s water level reaches the 99m mark.
Mohamad said Syarikat Bekalan Air Negri Sembilan would provide 16 lorries and 110 static tanks to supply water to the affected areas.
A report by Syarikat Bekalan Air Negri Sembilan showed that the water volume at the dam had been reduced to 6,750 million litres, which are only 22.65 per cent of the dam’s maximum capacity.
With the water current consumption rate of 38.78 million litres a day, the dam could reach its minimum level in 124 days.