GEORGE TOWN: The Penang Water Supply Corporation (PBAPP) is drawing water from the Expanded Mengkuang Dam (EMD) in Seberang Prai to maintain good water supply services throughout the state.
This follows a dip in the Sungai Muda water level (Penang) that has plummeted below the 2m safe level for four consecutive days, from Thursday until yesterday.
PBAPP chief executive officer K. Pathmanathan said that the maximum drawdown capacity of the EMD is 600 million litres per day (MLD).
"PBAPP has started drawing an average of 41 MLD since Saturday to complement raw water abstraction from Sungai Muda.
"The raw water from the EMD and Sungai Muda is channelled to the Sungai Dua Water Treatment Plant (WTP), Penang's largest and most important WTP.
"Treated water from this WTP is pumped to about 465,000 consumers throughout Seberang Prai as well as the northeast and southwest districts on Penang island," he said today.
According to Pathmanathan, the daily drawdowns from the EMD ensure that the Sungai Dua WTP continues to produce an average of 1,026.59 MLD of treated water.
PBAPP extracted an average of 1,125.50 MLD of raw water from Sungai Muda last week, compared to 1,196.13 MLD under normal circumstances.
Under normal conditions, more than 80 per cent of the raw water that PBAPP abstracts daily originates from this river.
The effective capacity of the 160 billion litre Muda Dam in Kedah was reported to be 25.7 per cent on Friday.
The Muda Dam is one of two dams in Kedah that releases water into Sungai Muda for use by Kedah and Penang.
The reported level of the other dam, the Beris Dam, was 82.4 per cent on Thursday. The maximum effective capacity of the Beris Dam is 120 billion litres.
Pathmanathan added that Kedah has the option to release more water from the Beris Dam to increase the level of Sungai Muda.
"This measure will prevent any major issues at 14 WTPs in Kedah and the Sungai Dua WTP in Penang," he added.
Pathmanathan also noted that as of yesterday, the effective capacity of the EMD was 90.5 per cent.
"With drawdowns available from the EMD, the current low level of the Sungai Muda river should not pose an immediate threat to water supply in Penang.
"However, PBAPP is operating on high alert and carefully monitoring the status of Sungai Muda because this river is Penang's primary raw water resource.
"We also seek the understanding and cooperation of all water consumers to use water wisely in Penang, as the Sungai Muda river level is low and the reserves of the Muda Dam have been depleted," he said.