Weatherman: Dry spell on its way out in north

GEORGE TOWN: The dry spell is expected to end for northern states with rain forecast in Penang, Perlis and Perak from this month till August.

The Malaysian Meteorological Department forecast that Perlis will be receiving between 100mm and 230mm of rainfall while Perak is expected to get 70mm to 330mm beginning April.

Penang will also be recording higher rainfall in early April with 170mm to 250mm compared to March where rainfall was recorded at 90mm to 120mm.

Following the intermittent rain which lasted for several hours in different parts of Penang on Monday, Penang Water Supply Corporation Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Jaseni Maidinsa said the rain helped raise dam capacities.

He said they had 17mm of rain at the Ayer Itam Dam, which increased the effective capacity of the dam to 50.7% compared to 49.1% in March 9.

“On March 22, the dam’s effective capacity was only at 49.1%.

“As for the Teluk Bahang Dam we had 57mm of rain but the effective capacity is still going down at 69.7% because it is seven times bigger than the Ayer Itam dam and requires more rain to make an impact,” he said.

Jaseni said it had also been raining in Kedah and that the Sungai Muda levels had improved to 2.05m compared to 1.82m on March 22, which triggered the first level alert as it was below 2.0m.

“But even so, we still need more rain. Penangites should continue to use water wisely as our domestic per capita is still the highest in Malaysia at 278 litres per capita a day while the national average is 201 litres per capita a day,” he said.

“The national target is to reduce usage to 180 litres per capita a day. The United Nations’ recommendation is 160 litre per capita a day, so Penangites need to use less water,” he said.