GEORGE TOWN: Penang's water treatment capacity will increase by 114 million litres per day (MLD) from this month.
This follows the commissioning of Package 12A at the Sungai Dua Water Treatment Plant (WTP), which is scheduled to be officially opened by Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow next week.
The maximum design capacity of the Sungai Dua WTP will now increase from 1,228 MLD per day to 1,342 MLD.
This increase is equivalent to the volume of water used to fill 76 million 1.5L drinking water bottles every day.
Penang Water Supply Corporation chief executive officer Datuk K. Pathmanathan said Package 12A referred to a new water treatment module within the premises of the Sungai Dua WTP.
"This module was built rapidly in response to higher post-pandemic water demand.
The Sungai Dua WTP is Penang's largest and most important WTP. Its treated water is supplied to about 465,000 water consumers daily.
"Accordingly, the beneficiaries of Package 12A are the 465,000 water consumers in this WTP's service areas," he said today.
Elaborating, Pathmanathan said, on the mainland, the service areas of the Sungai Dua WTP included most areas in Seberang Prai Utara (SPU), Seberang Prai Tengah (SPT) and Seberang Prai Selatan (SPS).
He said treated water from the Sungai Dua WTP was also pumped to consumers in the southwest district and some areas in the northeast district on Penang Island.
This year, PBAPP is also pumping up to 33 MLD of water from Sungai Dua to the Air Itam service area under its Air Itam Dam Action Plan 2024 (AIDAP 2024).
Meanwhile, Pathmanathan said works to lay a new 180m long 1.35m river-crossing pipeline at Sungai Prai, near the Ampang Jajar Bridge have commenced.
"This pipeline is scheduled for commissioning in January 2026.
"When completed, this Sungai Prai river-crossing pipeline will allow PBAPP to carry more flow and volume of treated water from the Sungai Dua WTP to Penang island.
"This measure will address sporadic water shortage issues in some high ground and end-of-line (EoL) neighbourhoods in the southwest district and some areas of the northeast district," he added.
The new pipeline, with its own supporting structure built above the river, will replace the 225m-long twin 600mm pipelines along the Ampang Jajar Bridge since January this year.
These 600mm pipelines were laid as a temporary solution to pump water to Penang island after a corroded 1.35m underwater pipeline burst repeatedly on the riverbed in December last year and January this year.
With a diameter of 1.35m, the new Sungai Prai river-crossing pipeline may deliver a "higher load of water" to Penang island, especially during peak water consumption periods.
In other words, Pathmanathan said, this river-crossing pipeline is being laid to supply more water to about 120,000 water consumers on Penang island, including the factories in the Bayan Lepas Free Trade Zone.
"When commissioned, it will also enhance the stability of water supply services in the western, south-western and southern parts of the island," he said.