CYBERJAYA – Seven dams in the country have been identified as high risk, so the National Water Services Commission (SPAN) will propose solutions to the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change (NRECC).
Among the possible fixes are off-river storage reservoirs (TAPS), said SPAN chairman Charles Santiago, adding that presentations to the ministry will be made next week.
“From SPAN’s monitoring, as many as seven dams in the country were identified as being at high risk (in the supply of water resources),” he told a press conference at the SPAN headquarters, here today.
“The seven dams are in Pedu and Muda in Kedah; Durian Tunggal, Asahan and Jus in Melaka; Mengkuang in Penang; and Linggiu in Johor.”
Explaining the function of TAPS, Santiago said it could be one approach to address the challenges that come with water supply shortage.
“It functions as a flood catchment and water supply dam,” he said in his briefing on the water supply monitoring report for Peninsular Malaysia and the Labuan federal territory.
Santiago added that measures such as using TAPS must be done early to ensure continuous water supply for consumers in the face of uncertain weather patterns and drought caused by climate change.
On SPAN’s inspection of dams across Malaysia, he said 16 out of the country’s 55 dams are more than 50-years-old and require heavy maintenance to maximise their holding capacity.
“The water storage rate in these 16 dams, have capacity for 20 million litres per day (mld), but actually can only hold 15 mld due to ‘dead storage’ at the bottom of the dam.
“This is due to poor maintenance and lack of thorough audits.
“We are going to emphasise this issue to the agency concerned so that they can take proper action.” – October 23, 2023