SHAH ALAM, 19 Mar: The low rate in rainfall in catchment areas, in addition to the high evaporation rate due to the hot weather lately, is the reason why there is no increase in water capacity at dams.

The Selangor Water Management Board (LUAS) Director, Md Khairi Selamat, said that until now, the water capacity at all dams in Selangor is just above the critical level.

“Based on monitoring done by LUAS as of 18 March, the capacity of four out of seven dams in the state is below 70 percent.

“Meanwhile, six other dams have had no increase in water capacity due to the low rate in rainfall and this has had no significant impact on the dams’ capacity,” he said in a statement to Selangor Kini today.

For the record, the Klang Gates Dam recorded a capacity of 51.30 percent, the Langat Dam at 58.05%, the Sungai Selangor Dam at 38.97% and the Sungai Tinggi Dam is at a capacity of 68.26%, on 18 March.

Only the capacity of the Klang Gates Dam has shown a slight increase from 51.16 percent on 15 March to 51.30 percent on 16 March, and has remained at the same level to this day.

Meanwhile, the capacity for three other dams; the Batu Dam, Semenyih Dam and the Tasik Subang Dam, are all above 70 percent on the same date.

On 15 and 16 March, LUAS, with cooperation from the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia) successfully carried out cloud seeding with rainfall being recorded at 3mm to 22.5mm.

LUAS, with in collaboration with MetMalaysia and the private sector involved, will conduct a more intensive cloud seeding exercise to increase rainfall in catchment areas.

“LUAS has already ordered operators to reduce the release of water from the Sungai Selangor Dam in stages, from 100 million litres per day (MLD) to 500 MLD.

“This will be followed by an increase of release from the Sungai Tinggi Dam, from 10 MLD to 200 MLD, from the the maximum release of 1200 MLD to balance the release of dam water for needs and prolong the catchment life of the Sungai Selangor Dam,” he said.