The effective capacity of Ayer Itam dam has dropped to an alert level of 51.8% in this picture taken on April 10. — Courtesy of PBAPP
THE water levels at Penang island’s two key dams have dropped to only half their effective capacity and Penangites are urged to use water wisely until the dams are refilled.
Penang Water Supply Corporation (PBAPP) chief executive officer K. Pathmanathan said low rainfall had been recorded at water catchment areas of Ayer Itam dam and Teluk Bahang dam since early this year.
“Water level at Ayer Itam dam dropped from 82.5% to 51.8% on April 10.
“Within the same period, water level at Teluk Bahang dam dropped from 64% to 51.3%,” he said in a recent statement.
Pathmanathan said that from January to March, water catchment areas in Ayer Itam dam and Teluk Bahang dam received only 129mm and 215mm of rainfall respectively.
He said the average daily consumption of water for Penang stood at 875 million litres and 944 million litres in January and February respectively.
“These statistics reflect the fact that low rainfall in the dams’ water catchment areas and high water demand are the two key factors that caused the effective capacities of the Ayer Itam dam and the Teluk Bahang dam to drop by 30.7% and 12.7% since Jan 1 this year,” he said.
Pathmanathan said PBAPP would be implementing several measures in response.
“Raw water abstraction from Sungai Muda and treated water production at the Sungai Dua Water Treatment Plant (Sungai Dua WTP) would be further optimised.
“More treated water would be pumped from the Sungai Dua WTP to Penang island (via three sets of twin submarine pipelines) to support water supply on the island.
“Raw water drawdowns from the Ayer Itam dam and Teluk Bahang dam would be minimised as far as possible, without compromising water supply services.
“Engineers would step up on dry weather controls to strategically ‘defend’ the effective capacities of the two dams for as long as possible.
“There would be rescheduling of planned pipe works to minimise water wastage and we would increase responsiveness to public reports of burst or leaking pipes as soon as possible,” he said.
However, if the current dry season persists, Pathmanathan said contingency plans were in place to address water demand in higher ground and end-of-line (EoL) areas.
PBAPP is also seeking the cooperation of all Penang domestic water consumers (households) to use water wisely.
In its 2022 consumption analysis, data showed that domestic water consumption accounted for 61.5% of Penang’s average daily consumption of 868 million litres per day.
