UNDERGROUND WATER CATCHMENT FACILITY: KEDAH GOV’T TO SEND TECHNICAL TEAM TO JAPAN

ALOR SETAR, April 17 (Bernama) -- The Kedah government will send a technical team to Japan to observe the underground water catchment facilities there following a proposal to build a similar facility in Langkawi.

Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said the proposal to build a similar facility worth over RM300 million had been approved at the Kedah State Water Resources Board (LSANK) level.

“There is such a model in Japan… If we (build) in Langkawi, it will be the first in Malaysia. Many of the islands in Japan use (underground water catchment facilities).

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“According to the Japanese consultant who proposed it, (in Langkawi) it is suitable to be built because there are stretches of rocks on the side and bottom, with a river above, we just need to dam it slightly to create an underground reservoir,” he told reporters after attending the Kedah State Secretary Hari Raya Open House here today.

Previously, the state government had proposed groundwater exploration as an alternative to address the problem of disruptions in clean water supply in the state.

Last month, state Public Works, Natural Resources, Water Supply and Environmental Committee chairman Mohamad Yusoff @ Munir Zakaria was reported to have said that a government agency was carrying out a study and would implement the pilot project for an underground water catchment facility in Padang Mat Sirat, Langkawi.

Kedah has six main dams that supply raw water to the domestic, industrial and agricultural sectors, namely the Pedu Dam, Muda Dam, Ahning Dam, Beris Dam, Bukit Malut Dam and Padang Saga Dam.

-- BERNAMA