El Nino: Over 7,000 in Pahang experience water disruption

Over 7,000 water bill account holders in three districts in Pahang are experiencing water supply disruption following low water pressure at treatment plants due to the El-Nino phenomenon.

Pengurusan Air Pahang Berhad (PAIP) public relations officer Nurul Farhana Abdul Hamid said the three affected districts were Temerloh, Lipis and Pekan.

"The district that are most affected by the water disruption is Lipis as it has two water treatment plants with low water pressure, namely the Jelai water plant, which has affected 6,029 account holders and Batu 9 water plant, which has affected 120 account holders for the past two weeks," she told Bernama here, on Saturday.

In Temerloh, she said 460 account holders were also affected by the low pressure of water at the Lubuk Kawah water plant, while in Pekan, the low water pressure at Chini water plant had also affected 500 account holders.

Nurul Farhana said PAIP had taken immediate action in deploying static water tanks and trailers, as well as additional water pump machines, to residents in the affected areas.

Meanwhile, State Fire and Rescue Department operation officer Ashrul Riezal Asbar said the peat fires currently razing 70-hectare areas of peatlands in Kampung Sungai Ular had spread to another 50 metres.

As at Saturday evening, he said the fire fighters were still trying to control the blaze using water supply from the nearby canals.

"It is a difficult job as the fire fighters are also facing extreme hot weather and strong wind condition which caused the fire to spread even quicker," he said.