Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali pledged to reduce non-revenue water from the current 35 per cent to 29 per cent by 2019.

“To achieve this, the state government will allocate RM324 million to address the issue of burst pipes and to replace old pipes running some 422.5km in 84 hot spots for three years starting 2016,” TheSun daily quoted Azmin as telling the state assembly today.

Another RM100.6 million will be allocated to Air Selangor for pipe replacement works besides RM197 million to build the Semenyih II and Labohan Dagang water treatment plants, estimated to cost the state government RM800 million in total.

According to the English daily, the two water treatment plants, expected to be completed by 2019, are stop gap measures in light of the Langat II water treatment plant being delayed by seven years.

Apart from these, RM17 million will also be allocated to manage Selangor’s water resources through cloud seeding, pumping of water from Bestari Jaya’s former mining pools, and the increase in surveillance of water sources by the Selangor Water Management Board (Luas) through the use of information technology and drones.