According to the Penang Water Supply Corporation (PBAPP), the scheduled water supply disruption that was supposed to start on Monday (Jan 29) for diversion of the 600mm pipeline across Sungai Perai has now been postponed to 11.30pm on Tuesday (Jan 30).
PBAPP noted that the postponement was agreed upon after considering the requests of users in the affected areas who wanted more time before the implementation of Plan B. In a statement, PBAPP said, “We plan to provide at least 24 hours so that all 120,000 (affected) consumers have sufficient time to store enough water before implementing Plan B of the scheduled water disruption (600mm pipe diversion).” Previously, PBAPP stated that the scheduled water supply disruption affected 120,000 user accounts in Penang’s Southwest district.
The water supply disruption was necessary due to a large leak in the 1,350mm pipeline at the bottom of the Sungai Perai last Tuesday. Although the re-clamping works have been done, the pipe is still leaking and is at risk of leaking again until diversion works are carried out to replace it. “Due to the risk factor, Plan B was immediately implemented after all affected users received their water supply,” it said.
PBAPP reported that as of 6.30 pm on Saturday (Jan 28), a total of 109,000 of the 120,000 affected users had received their water supply, and it would try to restore water supply to the remaining 11,000 affected users by tonight or early Monday morning. The leaking pipe at the bottom of Sungai Perai last Tuesday was the third incident after incidents in December last year and on Jan 12. As a result, the Penang government implemented a method of installing a temporary replacement pipeline across the Sungai Perai, which will work for at least eight months, while waiting for the permanent pipeline replacement to be completed. – Bernama
