Perak MB Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad.
IPOH: There is an urgent need for a water treatment plant to be set up in the northern part of the state to overcome the yearly drought there, says Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad.
The Perak Mentri Besar said currently, his target was to focus on how to solve the problem in these area so that the agriculture and industrial sectors would not be affected.
“Usually at the beginning of the year, there is inadequate water in the northern part of the state.
“One solution for that would be to have a treatment plant to get treated water,” he told reporters after attending the Perak State Land and Mines Department’s excellence service award ceremony at a hotel here on Thursday (July 6).
Saarani said the state authorities were already in the midst to get their paperwork done, as well as to speak to the respective ministries concerned.
“A treatment plant is a costly affair, and thus we need to discuss with the Federal Government to get us the allocation,” he added.
Saarani said he always emphasised that only if there was surplus water, that Perak would be able to sell raw water to Penang.
“With so many areas in Perak itself requiring water, we need to overcome the problem of how to transfer water from Sungai Perak to the northern part of the state facing water shortage.
“My first priority is to settle the problems faced in Perak, that is what is at the back of my head at all times,” he added.
At the end of last month (June), the Perak Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) had said with the water level at the Bukit Merah Dam having reached critical level, the rationing exercise being undertaken only involved water supply for irrigation purposes.
The department also said that so far, domestic supply is still not involved in the rationing exercise.
