Water rationing until September

Water rationing until September

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): More than 2.5 million people in the Malaysian capital region's Klang Valley will have to suffer water rationing until September, a newspaper said yesterday.

With Malaysia in the grip of a drought caused by the El Nio weather phenomenon, the next wet season is not due until then, the Sunday Sun said. Some Malaysians have endured water rationing for more than two months.

In the Klang Valley, two main water treatment plants are operating at an average 70 percent of capacity, and consumers will face tighter rationing if production is reduced further, Shariff Jajang, the Selangor state executive councillor, said.

"Any further fall in the level of the dams as well as the rivers feeding them may force production to suffer," he warned.

If this occurred, water supply would be reduced from the present 12 hours on alternate days, the paper said.