ALOR GAJAH, March 9 — The Melaka state government has outlined eight measures to ensure that the water crisis which occurred in January last year will not happen again this year, said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Sulaiman Md Ali.
He said among the measures that have been and would be taken was the cloud seeding operation from March 10 to 23.
Besides that, 14 million litres of raw water from the Ayer Keroh Lake and Kesang Pond 1 (seven million litres) have been pumped into the Sungai Melaka every day starting February to facilitate optimum production by the DAF 1 and 2 water treatment plants (LRA) and Bukit Sebukor LRA, as well as to increase the Sungai Melaka water level.
“Apart from that, we have also implemented the water release by gravity from the Menggong Pond 1 and 2 as support to the Gadek LRA, the release of 270 million litres of water per day from the Durian Tunggal Dam to the Sungai Melaka water intake and the release of 151 million litres of water per day from the Jus Dam to the Sungai Batang Melaka.
“There are also restrictions on water pumping to padi field irrigation scheme at all individual pump houses and those supervised by the Melaka Irrigation and Drainage Department, as well as ban on water and effluent discharge by fish, cattle and poultry farmers near Sungai Melaka, Sungai Batang Melaka and Sungai Kesang,” he told reporters after visiting the Durian Tunggal Dam here, today.
Meanwhile, Sulaiman said based on the Bathymetric study conducted at the Durian Tunggal Dam in 2016, Melaka had lost 32.5 per cent of water compared to its construction’s capacity.
He said this showed that the sediment deposition rate at the bottom of the dam was high as it was greatly influenced by the soil loosening and fertilisation activities, the opening of new lands and the use of pesticides. — Bernama
