GEORGE TOWN: The Penang Water Supply Corporation (PBAPP) has come up with a raw water contingency plan for the state while awaiting Perak's decision to sell raw water to it.
PBAPP chief executive officer Datuk Jaseni Maidinsa said they drafted the Raw Water Contingency Plan 2030 (RWCP 2030), which is part of the Penang Water Supply Initiative 2050 (PWSI 2050), to mitigate Penang's raw water risks until 2030.
The RWCP proposes the implementation of five key water projects:
1. Phase 2 of the Sungai Dua Water Treatment Plant (WTP) sedimentation tanks upgrade which has the potential to yield 91 MLD (million litres/day) and expected to be completed next year.
2. Package 12A, Sungai Dua WTP: additional new water treatment module which has the potential to yield 114 MLD and expected to completed in 2023.
3. Phase 1 Mengkuang Dam WTP which has the potential to yield 114 MLD and expected to be completed in 2025.
4. Phase 1 Sungai Muda WTP which has the potential to yield 114 MLD and expected to be completed in 2028.
5. New Sungai Prai Water Supply Scheme: pre-treatment process which has the potential to yield 136 MLD and expected to be completed in 2028.
"If the RWCP 2030 is implemented as planned, Penang will be able to optimise Sungai Muda as its primary raw water resource and tap two new raw water resources, namely the Mengkuang Dam and Sungai Prai.
"The potential total yield is an additional 569 MLD of water per day. The availability of this additional volume of water should ensure Penangites continue to enjoy good water supply services until 2030.
"This is our contingency plan to meet demands until 2030 since the Sungai Perak Raw Water Transfer Scheme (SPRWTS) continues to be delayed since 2011 by the federal government," he said today.
Nevertheless, Jaseni said, Penang was still looking forward to the SPRWTS.
"The proposed implementation of RWCP 2030 does not mean that Penang is giving up on the SPRWTS. After waiting for 10 years, Penang is still looking forward to the implementation of the SPRWTS.
"The key objective of the RWCP 2030 is to 'buy more time' for Penang until the implementation of the SPRWTS.
"SPRWTS is the most rational and cost-effective solution," he added.
It was reported last week that the Perak government has yet to make a decision on selling raw water to Penang, as proposed under the SPRWTS.
PBAPP has projected that it will take seven years to complete and commission the SPRWTS.
In 2011, the Penang government and PBAPP proposed the SPRWTS to the federal government as a rational and cost-effective raw water solution for the following key reasons:
1. Sungai Perak is the second longest river in Peninsular Malaysia. Yet, its potential as a raw water resource has not been fully tapped. Raw water that may be potentially used for water supply is flowing wastefully into the Straits of Melaka daily.
2. The projected yield of the SPRWTS is high: 1,000 – 2,000 MLD.
3. SPRWTS may help to meet Perak and Penang's raw water needs until 2050. As such, it is a 'long-term raw water solution for the benefit of two states'.
4. Conventional water treatment of raw water from Sungai Perak represents the most cost-effective water supply solution for Perak and Penang. It is significantly cheaper than desalination and will have the least impact on future water tariffs in Perak and Penang.
5. The SPRWTS is a raw water resource project. The federal government had agreed to finance raw water resource projects for Penang when Penang migrated to the National Water Services Industry Restructuring Initiative (NWSIRI) in 2011.
"These key reasons are still valid today. As such, the Penang government and PBAPP will continue to pursue the implementation of the SPRWTS because both Penang and Perak will need more water supply to meet the needs of the people in the future," Jaseni noted.