JOHOR BARU: When residents of Mersing were first hit by a water shortage, they braced themselves for several dry days.
What they did not expect, however, was for those dry days to last five months.
Restaurant operator Nita Halini Mohamed, 40, who lives in Jalan Endau, Mersing, said her business suffered a slump as the water supply had gone from bad to worse over the past few months.
“We thought rationing in Mersing would be the same as in other areas and would improve in due time, but we were wrong.”
Nita collects up to 20 buckets of water a day.
“I need clean water for my restaurant and the water shortage has affected my business.”
Mersing is the latest district in the state to be hit by a water crisis, following a prolonged drought caused by the El Nino phenomenon, which caused water level at the Congok Dam to dip way below the critical level.
Last year, residents in Pasir Gudang, Masai and part of Johor Baru were affected.
Residents in parts of Kluang are midway through a month-long rationing because of the low water level of Sungai Sembrong Kiri, which supplies raw water to the Sembrong Timur water treatment plant.
Another Mersing resident, Rohani Mohd, 40, said she had experienced four days without water supply, even though the rationing roster stated that water supply would resume every third day.
“I live in Kampung Seri Pantai, which is on higher ground. Most areas like mine are not getting enough supply due to low water pressure.”
She had been relying on water storage tanks at home, and had to call SAJ Holdings, the state water utility, for additional water supply.
Kampung Benaung Mersing resident Razila Affandi, 25, said her neighbourhood relied on water from water tankers because of low pressure.
“We are allowed 100 litres of water a day during collection days. Collecting water is a daunting task.”
Razila was shocked to learn that water supply had now been reduced to only six hours every three days under the rationing.
“I hope that the state government knows that Mersing is facing a serious water shortage and is working to ease the people’s suffering.”
Sani Ahmad, 54, from Pasir Gudang, said he hoped he did not have to experience another round of rationing after more than four months of putting up with disrupted supply.
“It is a big hassle for most of us, especially the elderly.”
A food stall operator in Taman Sri Lambak, Kluang, who wanted to be known only as Misiah, said it was hard to run an eatery without water.
“What are we going to do when we need to clean up the food stall? How are we to wash the dishes?”
Endau assemblyman Datuk Abd Latif Bandi urged residents in Mersing to be patient as the state government was taking short- and long-term measures to address the water shortage there. Endau is one of two state constituencies in the Mersing parliamentary constituency.
Latif, who is state Housing and Local Government Committee chairman, said the RM50 million project to transfer raw water to the Tenglu water treatment plant was under way and would be completed in six to seven months.
SAJ Holdings chief executive officer Abdul Wahab Abdul Hamid said it was working around the clock and was deploying water tankers to ensure water supply reached every consumer in the district.
He said the current capacity of Congok Dam was one million cubic metres, but the Federal Government planned to double the capacity and the tender process for this upgrade would start in two months.
He said this was in addition to the new dam that would be built by the Federal Government in Mersing as a long-term measure to solve the water supply issue in the district.