GEORGE TOWN: Many parts of Penang have started experiencing water disruption since early this morning.
George Town in the northeast district, Seberang Prai Utara and Seberang Prai Tengah are experiencing low pressure.
Also, there is no water supply in the area which stretches from south Bukit Dumbar to Balik Pulau (Pulau Betong, Bukit Penara, Pondok Upeh and Bandar Balik Pulau) and the Seberang Prai Selatan district.
In an alert notice issued at 4am on its Facebook page, the Penang Water Supply Corporation (PBAPP) said the raw water quality at the Lahar Tiang intake had exceeded 1,500 nephelometric turbidity unit (NTU).
NTU refers to the concentration of suspended solids in the water. A reading above 3,000 renders the raw water untreatable.
As a result, it said, the water production from the Sungai Dua treatment plant was operating at only 30 per cent capacity.
"The high level of water turbidity is caused by flooding in the Baling district in Kedah.
"We are strictly monitoring the situation," it added.
PBAPP said it would update the status from time to time.
"We regret any inconvenience caused," it said.
PBAPP has started monitoring the
quality of raw water at the Lahar Tiang intake following continuous rain and flood in Baling since Wednesday.
At 1am today, the raw water quality at the Lahar Tiang intake had exceeded 500 NTU.
PBAPP had then cautioned that water production from the Sungai Dua treatment plant was expected to be reduced gradually.
It also advised all consumers to always have sufficient water stored for emergency use.
In early July last year, the Sungai Dua Water Treatment Plant was shut down due to abnormally high turbidity of raw water from Sungai Muda following the Baling floods.
As a result, 80 per cent or 528,000 of 660,000 account holders were left without water.
The unscheduled water disruption caused chaos as people emptied store shelves of bottled water.