Yan: Takungan air di Empangan Beris, di sini, dijangka dapat bertahan sehingga September ini bagi menampung bekalan air domestik untuk Kedah dan Pulau Pinang.

Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Kerja Raya, Sumber Asli, Bekalan Air dan Alam Sekitar negeri, Mohamad Yusoff @ Munir Zakaria berkata, ketika ini, Pengurusan Lembangan Sungai Muda (PLSM) melepaskan 10 juta liter padu air dari Empangan Beris bagi menstabilkan paras Sungai Muda yang menjadi sumber bekalan dua negeri berkenaan.

Katanya, Empangan Beris masih mempunyai simpanan air yang memuaskan untuk digunakan ketika waktu kecemasan akibat penyusutan paras air di Empangan Muda.

“Kalau tak lepas air empangan, memang Syarikat Air Darul Aman (Sada) tak boleh nak sedut air untuk diproses. Jadi, Empangan

Beris kita lepas pada waktu tertentu dan ini antara usaha kita,” katanya yang ditemui selepas Majlis Penyerahan Projek Empangan Sabo Titi Hayun, semalam.

Mengulas lanjut, Mohamad Yusoff berkata, bagi mengatasi gangguan bekalan air pada musim kemarau, kerajaan negeri melalui Lembaga Sumber Air Negeri Kedah (LSANK) turut bercadang membina kolam takungan air pinggiran sungai (Taps).

Katanya, cadangan itu sudah diluluskan di peringkat kajian dan pelaksanaannya akan dipercepat supaya Kedah dapat menakung air di pinggiran sungai segera.

“Buat masa sekarang, pengguna diminta untuk menggunakan air secara berhemah, tetapi kalau tiada bekalan air, bagaimana hendak berhemah.

“Apapun, kita akan cari jalan untuk pastikan pengguna di Kedah terima bekalan air,” katanya.

Cuaca di Malaysia belum mencapai tahap kemarau, sebaliknya cuaca sekarang sedang dipengaruhi oleh musim Monsun Barat Daya yang dijangka berterusan sehingga September depan.

Ketua Pengarah Jabatan Meteorologi Malaysia (MetMalaysia) Muhammad Helmi Abdullah berkata, sepanjang tempoh itu secara umumnya kebanyakan kawasan di Malaysia akan mengalami cuaca kering berikutan kurangnya penumpuan udara lembap untuk menghasilkan hujan.

Menurutnya, hujan yang lebih banyak akan mula berlaku selepas bermula fasa peralihan monsun yang diperti jangka bermula sekitar pertengahan September sehingga awal November.

“Musim Monsun Barat Daya kelazimannya membawa angin yang kering dari arah Sumatera dan Kalimantan menyebabkan kurang berlakunya hujan di negara kita.

“Keadaan cuaca akan menjadi lebih kering sekiranya berlakunya pembentukan ribut siklon tropika di barat Lautan Pasifik dan Laut China Selatan.

“Setakat ini, tiada jangkaan pembentukan ribut siklon tropika di Laut China Selatan dan barat Lautan Pasifik dalam masa terdekat,” katanya.

Muhammad Helmi berkata, sehubungan itu cuaca hujan masih boleh berlaku di beberapa tempat dalam kuantiti yang sederhana terutamanya bagi kawasan utara dan pedalaman semenanjung, pedalaman Sabah dan Sarawak.

Sementara itu, katanya, keadaan ombak besar yang berlaku di utara semenanjung adalah disebabkan oleh penumpuan angin kencang dari Laut Andaman yang bergerak di melintasi Segenting Kra dan utara semenanjung berikutan kehadiran ribut siklon tropika di Laut China Selatan sejak beberapa hari yang lalu.

“Keadaan ombak kembali normal bermula daripada kelmarin (Ahad) selepas berakhirnya ancaman ribut siklon tropika berkenaan,” katanya.

Beliau turut menjelaskan situasi beberapa kawasan negeri utara semenanjung yang dilanda musim kemarau sehingga tiada air sedi Kelantan, Pulau Pinang (Sungai Muda), Kedah, Taman Tasik Taiping, Perak yang kering kontang dan beberapa lokasi lain.

“Situasi cuaca kering di beberapa kawasan di negara kita mungkin berkait rapat dengan fenomena El-Nino kuat yang berlaku sejak pertengahan 2023 sehingga bulan lalu.

“Keadaan ini terus berlarutan kerana bersambung pula dengan musim Monsun Barat Daya yang kelazimannya membawa cuaca lebih kering berbanding musim lain.

“Fenomena El-Nino selalu dikaitkan dengan cuaca kering, manakala La-Nina yang dijangka bermula pada September nanti sehingga pertengahan tahun hadapan lazimnya membawa cuaca lebih lembap kepada negara kita,” katanya.

“Setakat ini, tiada jangkaan pembentukan ribut siklon tropika di Laut China Selatan dan barat Lautan Pasifik dalam masa terdekat”

TAIPING: A group of rice farmers had to see the drying Bukit Merah Lake for themselves because they were truly terrified of getting empty rice kernels for the upcoming harvest season.

“Our family members tending to our rice fields have grown depressed because we have no water at the worst time,” lamented Kampung Semanggol villager Shima Ali, 39, yesterday.

“If you come to my village, you see green fields everywhere and it looks nice. The padi shoots are knee-high, so they won’t die.

“But this is the worst possible time to have no water because we must flood our fields right now with at least a few centimetres of water. The season is all wrong,” she said, adding that without proper irrigation, there will be a significant proportion of panicles with hollow grains (a phenomenon also known as panicle blanking).

Shima explained that when padi grows on dry fields, the grains that form will be mostly hollow ones that get blown away by the wind during harvesting time.

“We can’t even apply fertiliser now because the fields need to be soaking wet for the fertiliser to dissolve,” she said.

Shima and two of her village friends drove to the lakeside yesterday just as a team from The Star also visited to understand the situation.

“We know the government started cloud seeding here on Monday, and it did rain heavily for a while after that. We appeal to the government not to stop. We really need rain,” she said, adding that this was the longest dry spell she could remember, even though there were drier but short-lived periods in previous years.

Kerian District, where Shima lives, has over 21,000ha of padi fields, which is almost the size of Penang island (29,500ha).

Bukit Merah Lake, built in 1906, is Malaysia’s oldest man-made lake constructed for rice field irrigation.

As of yesterday, the Irrigation and Drainage Department’s online data show that its level has dropped to 5.98m, while its normal level is 8.68m.

Things are also gloomy at the 144-year-old Taiping Lake Gardens.

Over 70% of the channel of lakes here has evaporated, leaving a dystopian scenery of cracking, sun-baked mud.

On Monday, Perak’s Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah, accompanied by Raja Permaisuri Perak Tuanku Zara Salim, Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad and Taiping MP Wong Kah Woh, visited the Taiping Lake Gardens.

Taiping is known for being the “wettest town” in Peninsular Malaysia, getting about 4,000mm of rain each year, while the national average is between 2,000mm and 2,500mm.

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia is expected to see less rain until September, no thanks to the southwest monsoon. Additionally, seven districts throughout the country have issued a Level 1 heat alert.

According to a report compiled by the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma), which features weather-related data from various agencies – Rompin, Pahang, as well as Kuching, Sri Aman, Kapit, Sibu, Marudi and Telang Usan in Sarawak, all reported temperatures that were within the Level 1 alert as of July 29.

The Malaysian Meteorological Department (Metmalaysia) anticipates issuing at least a Level 1 heat alert in the weeks of July 30 and Aug 5.

A Level 1 alert is issued when the temperature at a location is between 35°C and 37°C for three consecutive days.

The raw water storage reserves at two dams, namely Muda (8.36%) in Kedah and Bukit Merah (14.86%) in Perak, had also hit dangerous levels.

Six other dams, namely Teluk Bahang (30.70%) and Air Hitam in Penang (37.30%); Malut in Kedah (38.70%); Timah Tasoh in Perlis (40.52%); Pedu (40.87%) and Beris in Kedah (56.99%) have reached warning levels.

As of July 29, there were 116 heat-related illnesses reported compared with 112 in the previous week.

There were 81 cases of heat exhaustion, 27 heatstrokes and eight heat cramps.

Terengganu reported the highest number of heat-related illnesses with 20 cases, followed by Kedah (19), Johor and Pahang (14), Perak (11), Negri Sembilan (10), Selangor (9) and Sabah (7), while Kelantan, Perlis and Kuala Lumpur reported four cases each. Penang, on the other hand, reported only one case.

As for the breakdown according to age, 90 were adults, 21 teenagers, three children and two senior citizens.

“No new deaths were reported this week,” the report said, adding that five heatstroke deaths were reported from Feb 2 and Jun 13.

The Bukit Merah and Muda dam areas have been conducting cloud seeding operations since July 29 to increase water levels for agricultural and domestic use.

According to the Fire and Rescue Department, 652 hotspots for fire were identified all over the country.

ALOR SETAR: The drought in Kedah is worsening rapidly, with the Pedu Dam bearing the brunt of the crisis.

The dam’s water level has plummeted to alarming levels, revealing submerged graves that are estimated to be over a century old.

And if the dry spell does not end soon, it will have an adverse effect on some 650,000 water account holders in the state.

Villagers near the dam have expressed growing concern over the prolonged dry spell, which has led to health issues for many.

Mad Darus, 77, from Kubur Panjang, said several of his grandchildren have been falling sick frequently.

The former fisherman, however, said there is enough water supply as his village uses water from the nearby hills.

“But if the current drought continues, I fear that our water supply will be affected,” he said.

As of yesterday, the overall status of the current three reservoir levels under the supervision of the Muda Agricultural Development Authority is 545,821 acrefeet, equivalent to 44.63% of their total capacity.

The capacity of Pedu Dam is 352,480 acre-feet (40.28%), Muda Dam at 10,550 acre-feet (8.44%) and Ahning Dam at 182,791 acrefeet (81.97%).

An acre-foot equals approximately an eight-lane swimming pool, 25m long, 16m wide and 3m deep.

Construction worker Syarizwan Zuhel, 29, said the scorching weather has taken a toll on his family members.

“Last week, my daughter fell sick. Before that, my wife caught a fever due to the extreme weather,” he said.

Syarizwan, who lives in Kampung Gulau, about 15km from Pedu Dam, said to cope with the extreme weather, he drinks lots of water to stay hydrated.

Villager Teh Shafie, 65, from Kampung Kota Aur, said he hopes something can be done as the dam is an important water source.

With a population of over two million people in Kedah, a water crisis could impact various aspects of daily life, including household water supply, agriculture and local industries.

It could also impact neighbouring states like Penang and Perlis as the primary water source of these states come from Sungai Muda.

In mitigating the situation, the Federal Government has carried out cloud seeding in Kedah and Perak for three consecutive days starting from Monday.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has said the operations were to increase water levels at the Bukit Merah and Muda dams in Perak and Kedah respectively meant for agricultural and domestic use.

He said the move was to mitigate the impact of the hot weather phenomenon and the southwest monsoon, which is expected to continue until the end of September.

During the southwest monsoon, there will be reduced cloud formation and decreased rainfall.

Consequently, most regions across the country will experience an increased number of dry days.

Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Sanusi Md Nor said the state has not approved new logging applications in Ulu Muda since May 2020.

“The 72,000ha of land designated as a catchment area cannot be disturbed. Additionally, nearly 300,000ha surrounding the already gazetted area will be designated for protection once the logging operations approved between 2014 and 2020 are completed,” he said.

“But if the current drought continues, Ifearthatour water supply will be affected.” Mad Darus