GEORGE TOWN: The Air Itam dam has sufficient raw water to meet the needs of the Air Itam township, Paya Terubong valley and surrounding areas for another 48 days.Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the effective capacity of the dam was at 49.1% on Friday, compared with 92.2% on Jan 1.“The dam’s effective capacity dropped by 43.1% in 81 days,” Chow told newsmen after visiting the dam yesterday.Effective capacity is the maximum capacity according to the dam design and the resources it has.Chow, however, said the level of Sungai Muda had fallen to below Penang Water Supply Corporation’s (PBAPP) alert level of 2m for 42 consecutive days and was 1.82m as of March 22.Kedah is releasing water into Sungai Muda from the Muda and Beris dams to meet the raw water demand in Kedah as well as Penang.

“We are concerned about the low level of Sungai Muda because it is Penang’s primary raw water resource and we will continue to be vigilant as PBAPP extracts water from this river downstream of 14 Kedah water treatment plants and four irrigation intakes,” he said.Chow said the dry season was more intense this year, as shown in the rainfall gauges at the dam which recorded 247mm of rainfall from Jan 1 to March 22.In the same period last year, the dam received 498mm of rainfall.He said PBAPP was empowered to carry out certain contingency measures if the situation warranted it.“One of it will be minimising drawdown of raw water from Air Itam dam, as far as possible, without resorting to water rationing and pumping in as much water as possible from other water treatment plants outside of the Air Itam area,” hesaid.Cloud seeding, said Chow, would be conducted if the effective capacity of the dam fell below 40%.

“The water supply scenarios in all other areas in the state are normal for now, with Teluk Bahang dam at 70.7% (enough for 215 days),” he said.PBAPP chief executive officer Datuk Jaseni Maidinsa, who was with Chow, said the dry weather was a blessing in a way because it allowed for repair and stabilisation works to ensure the safety and structural integrity of Air Itam dam.“The left side of the 57-year-old dam eroded due to damage during the storms of September, October and November 2017.“A 98m section of the left abutment of the dam is showing signs of water erosion and has to be repaired as further erosion will deposit soil in the dam and affect the quality of the raw water,” he said.Jaseni said the approved budget for the works was RM1.6mil and they were scheduled for completion by July.Meanwhile, the Malaysian Meteorological Department said in an El Nino update that the current hot weather is a regular annual phenomenon, giving an assurance that the dry weather will gradually change by April with the inter-monsoon period.