GEORGE TOWN: The Penang Water Supply Corporation (PBAPP) plans to submit a Crisis Management Plan for Sungai Muda to the Penang government. This comes after recent disruptions in the water supply due to incidents in the river in Kedah.
The CEO of PBAPP, K. Pathmanathan, stated that the presentation will include a range of effective and cost-efficient engineering solutions to safeguard consumers from the impacts of incidents occurring in Sungai Muda.
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“These solutions comprise addressing issues in the 400 million litres per day (MLD) emergency discharge pipeline, raw water pre-treatment works, off-river storage facilities or Takungan Air Pinggiran Sungai (TAPS), a Sungai Dua balancing pond, and upgrading the water treatment process,” he said in a statement on Wednesday (Oct 10).
Pathmanathan added that the plan was developed in response to feedback, complaints, and dissatisfaction from the public, who have been experiencing frequent water supply disruptions.
According to Pathmanathan, PBAPP serves a total of 676,857 consumers in Penang, with nearly 70% relying on treated water from the Sungai Dua water treatment plant (LRA), which processes raw water sourced from the river.
“Since July last year, Penang has faced three water crises. These include the Baling flood in that month, a sudden drop in river water level in May this year, and a second Baling flood last month.
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“All three incidents are associated with Sungai Muda.
“Without this crisis management plan, water supply in Penang is expected to be affected every time an incident occurs involving the river,” he warned.
Meanwhile, Pathmanathan revealed that Phase 2B of the Mengkuang Dam Expansion Project, originally scheduled for completion this year, has been rescheduled to early January.
This phase involves the installation of a 7km long pipeline, 1.6m in diameter, connecting the Mak Sulong pump house near the Expanded Mengkuang Dam (EMD) to the Sungai Dua canal.
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“Currently, PBAPP can only release a maximum of 300 MLD from EMD, which is insufficient. The Sungai Dua LRA requires about 1,100 MLD of raw water daily to produce 1,000 MLD of treated water.
“Upon the completion of Phase 2B, the maximum production capacity will increase to 600 MLD.
“If we also incorporate a proposed 400 MLD emergency discharge pipeline (as outlined in SM-CMP), the total maximum production capacity will be 1,000 MLD, which is very close to the optimal operation requirement,” he explained.
Pathmanathan also appealed to the Federal Government for an expedited completion of Phase 2B. – Bernama
Credit: The Star : News Feed
