GEORGE TOWN: There is an urgent need to build a large reservoir in the southern part of Penang island instead of an artificial island, Penang Gerakan said.
Its state chairman Oh Tong Keong said, when there was a water supply problem in Penang last year, the southern part of the island was the most affected and lasted for the longest time.
"Therefore, instead of an artificial island, the southern part of Penang island needs a reservoir and a filtration station.
"If there is a reservoir and filtration station in the southern part of Penang island, as long as the southwestern area of Penang island is not seriously polluted, the local reservoir and filtration station can also be used as the main place to purify seawater drinking water," he said today.
A damage to the Sungai Muda barrage gate in Kedah early Sunday morning resulted in various parts of Penang to be hit with water supply disruption.
While water supply normalised in other areas within 36 hours, some 40,000 water consumers in the southern part only had their water supply normalised yesterday.
Major flooding in Baling, Kedah in July last year also caused major disruptions to piped water supply throughout Penang, when the nephelometric turbidity unit (NTU) level hit 3,000.
Water supply in the southern part only normalised nearly a week later.
Elaborating, Oh, who is also Gerakan deputy president, urged the Penang government to shelve the plan of reclamation in the southern part of Penang island, and stop all hillside development plans in the southern part of the southwest district, and look for a suitable location to build a large reservoir locally.
He said the mountainous area in the southern part of the southwest region might not be suitable for building any form of dam.
"But it may be suitable for building large-scale reservoir and filtration stations, which can transfer the mountain water from the southern part of the southwest region and Balik Pulau to it for filtering as a backup of water source and water supply storage.
"Please suspend the hillside development plan in the southern part of the southwest region, and instead, build a large reservoir to channel rainwater that can cause flooding".
Oh said the dams and large reservoirs in Penang island, at present, were only located in the Bukit Bendera area which was Penang island's northern part.
There is no dam or reservoir in the southern part of Penang island.