1998 Klang Valley Water Crisis

The 1998 Klang Valley water crisis occurred in Malaysia in February 1998 when the three reservoir dams in Klang Valley, Klang Gates Dam, Batu Dam and Semenyih Dam suffered a substantial drop in water level following the El NiƱo phenomenon. The subsequent water shortage affected almost all the residents in the Klang Valley causing the government to impose water rationing prior to the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.

The shortage was blamed on El Nino despite actual rainfall in the months leading up to February 1998 in Federal Territory not being significantly below average. In fact in November 1997, Klang Gates Dam had its highest recorded rainfall. Similarly in October 1997 the Kajang station not far from the Semenyih dam had its highest rainfall in record.

Famous quotes containing the words valley, water and/or crisis:

    “As I went forth early on a still and frosty morning, the trees looked like airy creatures of darkness caught napping; on this side huddled together, with their gray hairs streaming, in a secluded valley which the sun had not penetrated; on that, hurrying off in Indian file along some watercourse, while the shrubs and grasses, like elves and fairies of the night, sought to hide their diminished heads in the snow.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    “What a dissimilarity we see in walking, swimming, and flying. And yet it is one and the same motion: it is just that the load- bearing capacity of the earth differs from that of the water, and that that of the water differs from that of the air! Thus we should also learn to fly as thinkers—and not imagine that we are thereby becoming idle dreamers!”
    —Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

    “The amelioration of the world cannot be achieved by sacrifices in moments of crisis; it depends on the efforts made and constantly repeated during the humdrum, uninspiring periods, which separate one crisis from another, and of which normal lives mainly consist.”
    —Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)