Penang to execute contingency plan to address drought
Reserve water to be drawn from dam should supply from Sungai Muda be insufficient
GEORGE TOWN: The Penang Water Supply Corporation (PWSC) will draw from the Expanded Mengkuang Dam (EMD) if it cannot extract sufficient raw water from Sungai Muda.
Its CEO K. Pathmanathan said a maximum of 600 million litres of raw water per day (MLD) will be drawn from the EMD if Sungai Muda continues to shrink due to dry and hot weather.
“As of Tuesday, the water level of Sungai Muda at the intake of the Lahar Tiang PWSC in Seberang Perai dropped to 1.72m, which is below the safe level of two metres, and on Wednesday the water level of Sungai Muda dropped to 1.61m at Lahar Tiang.
“PWSC continues to extract sufficient raw water from the river without using EMD, however, PWSC also successfully conducted a drawdown trial run from EMD in preparation for a worst-case scenario,” he said in a statement yesterday.
He said PWSC extracts about 1,200 MLD from Sungai Muda for optimal production of treated water at the Sungai Dua Water Treatment Plant and the plant produces 85% of the treated water distributed in Penang daily.
Pathmanathan noted that the maximum discharge capacity from the EMD is 600 MLD or about 50% of the raw water required by the Sungai Dua plant to operate optimally, Bernama reported.
He said as long as PWSC can extract 600 MLD of raw water from Sungai Muda and release 600 MLD from EMD it will not cause unscheduled water supply disruptions in the state.
However, he said the corporation is now on standby as Sungai Muda is Penang’s main raw water source and it will monitor the river water level closely.
On Tuesday, Syarikat Air Darul Aman Sdn Bhd said the water level of the Sungai Muda showed a downward trend and there was a risk of water supply disruption in the Kuala Muda district due to the ongoing dry and hot weather.
On Wednesday, Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the water supply in the state was not affected at present even though the water level of Sungai Muda, which involves the operation of Sungai Petani and Pinang Tunggal water treatment plants, showed a downward trend.