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More water for Johor

This article is more than 12 months old

Singapore's national water agency PUB has begun supplying additional treated water to Johor, following an urgent request from the Malaysian state.

Johor's water regulatory body Badan Kawalselia Air Johor (Bakaj) made the urgent request for an additional supply of 6 million gallons of treated water per day for the next three days, PUB said yesterday.

It added that Bakaj requires the water to stabilise the supply system in Johor Baru, following a shutdown on Wednesday because of pollution in the Johor River.

PUB said it readily acceded to the request and began supplying the additional water to Johor from midnight Saturday night. It will continue to do so for three days.

PUB assured its customers in Singapore that its service to them will not be affected in any way. This is because PUB has the ability to increase local production at short notice.

Under the 1962 Water Agreement with Malaysia, PUB is obliged to sell 5 million gallons a day (mgd) of treated water to Johor in exchange for drawing 250mgd of raw water from the Johor River.

PROVIDING MORE

In practice, PUB said it has been regularly providing Johor up to 16mgd of treated water each day.

The latest request for 6mgd is on top of the regular amount provided to Johor daily, PUB noted.

Last month, with the dry weather severely affecting water levels in Johor's Sungai Layang dam, Bakaj had also requested that PUB provide an additional 6mgd a day for a month.

BY THE numbers

$154k

The amount of duty and Goods and Services Tax on 18,048 packets of cigarettes seized by Singapore Customs and the Police Coast Guard in a two-day joint operation last week. Four men and a woman were arrested. The duty-unpaid cigarettes were found in a lorry at Bukit Batok and at a fish farm off Pulau Ubin. A boat used in the smuggling operation was also seized.

 

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