By Afix Redzuan
BESTARI JAYA, Nov 27 — The Hybrid Off River Augmentation System (HORAS) 600 will serve as an alternative to prevent water supply disruption in the Klang Valley, particularly during dry seasons.
Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari said the dry taps incident in 2014, which led to water rationing in the state for two months, had led to the development of the HORAS 600 project.
The prolonged water supply shortage five years ago was due to the water level drop to 37 per cent at the Sungai Selangor dam.
“The state administration had then [in 2014] released 1,000 million litres of water daily into the Sungai Selangor dam during the rationing period, which had affected one million accounts or four million users.
“The 2014 water rationing practice had shown that stable water supply is very much dependent on the weather factor and environmental sustainability,” said Amirudin at the launch and the handover of the HORAS 600 development project in Kampung Sungai Darah, here today.
Having dual-functionality, the HORAS 600 would be able to capture floodwater from Sungai Selangor and water from the reserve would be channelled out when there is low water flow.
The water supply system has a capacity of 30 million cubic meters and able to withstand 100 days during the dry season.
Meanwhile, Amirudin said the Selangor government had spent almost RM1 billion to complete water supply projects including the development of the Air Semenyih Water Treatment Plant 2, Labohan Dagang Water Treatment Plant, Mitigation Project 2 and HORAS 600, to improve its distribution of treated water supply to 60 per cent users in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.
“Aside from becoming a source of water supply, the area around HORAS 600 can also be used as a recreational centre and tourist attraction spot.
“HORAS 600 was also proudly used as a reference by other states facing water crisis during dry seasons, even before the project was fully completed. Representatives from Kedah and Johor had previously came to view the project,” he said.
