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Penangites told to cut water usage by 10% immediately
18 Mar 2024, 11:30 AM
PBAPP CEO K Pathmanathan makes urgent plea after water level in Sungai Muda drops below the 2m ‘safe’ threshold.
PBAPP CEO K Pathmanathan makes urgent plea after water level in Sungai Muda drops below the 2m ‘safe’ threshold.
Penang Water Supply Corporation CEO K Pathmanathan said the company is drawing as much water as possible to feed demand. (Bernama pic)
PETALING JAYA: Penang Water Supply Corporation (PBAPP) has appealed to all its users to cut their water consumption by 10% immediately.
Its CEO K Pathmanathan said that from Thursday to Sunday Sungai Muda’s water level varied between 1.71m and 1.89m, below its 2m “safe level” for water abstraction at the Lahar Tiang intake in Seberang Perai.
PETALING JAYA: Penang Water Supply Corporation (PBAPP) has appealed to all its users to cut their water consumption by 10% immediately.
Its CEO K Pathmanathan said that from Thursday to Sunday Sungai Muda’s water level varied between 1.71m and 1.89m, below its 2m “safe level” for water abstraction at the Lahar Tiang intake in Seberang Perai.
K Pathmanathan.
“The 120 billion-litre Muda dam in Kedah, which releases water into Sungai Muda, reportedly dropped to 48.6% on Friday.
“Thankfully, the Beris dam, which also feeds Sungai Muda, was 98.6% that day,” he said in a statement.
Pathmanathan added that PBAPP is drawing as much raw water as possible from Sungai Muda to meet demand.
“However, it is in the hands of the Kedah authorities to release water from the dams into Sungai Muda.
“Nevertheless, PBAPP personnel are on stand-by to draw down a maximum of 600 million litres a day (MLD) from the expanded Mengkuang dam, as and when we are unable to draw enough water from Sungai Muda,” he said.
He added that the effective capacity of the Air Itam dam dropped by 0.8%, from 38.1% on Friday to 37.3% Sunday.
“PBAPP has been compelled to draw down more than 11MLD from the dam. The Air Itam water treatment plant had to produce 25MLD of treated water to meet increased demand,” he said.
According to Pathmanathan, if PBAPP is unable to continue pumping 33MLD of treated water from Seberang Perai to Air Itam, due to high water consumption, the Air Itam dam action plan 2024 will not work.
“Moreover, there will be more widespread water supply issues.
On Feb 2, Pathmanathan revealed PBAPP’s Air Itam dam action plan, which was to reduce short-term dependency on the dam to build its effective capacity to 50%, up from the current 34.6%.
“The 120 billion-litre Muda dam in Kedah, which releases water into Sungai Muda, reportedly dropped to 48.6% on Friday.
“Thankfully, the Beris dam, which also feeds Sungai Muda, was 98.6% that day,” he said in a statement.
Pathmanathan added that PBAPP is drawing as much raw water as possible from Sungai Muda to meet demand.
“However, it is in the hands of the Kedah authorities to release water from the dams into Sungai Muda.
“Nevertheless, PBAPP personnel are on stand-by to draw down a maximum of 600 million litres a day (MLD) from the expanded Mengkuang dam, as and when we are unable to draw enough water from Sungai Muda,” he said.
He added that the effective capacity of the Air Itam dam dropped by 0.8%, from 38.1% on Friday to 37.3% Sunday.
“PBAPP has been compelled to draw down more than 11MLD from the dam. The Air Itam water treatment plant had to produce 25MLD of treated water to meet increased demand,” he said.
According to Pathmanathan, if PBAPP is unable to continue pumping 33MLD of treated water from Seberang Perai to Air Itam, due to high water consumption, the Air Itam dam action plan 2024 will not work.
“Moreover, there will be more widespread water supply issues.
On Feb 2, Pathmanathan revealed PBAPP’s Air Itam dam action plan, which was to reduce short-term dependency on the dam to build its effective capacity to 50%, up from the current 34.6%.
Time to Potong 😂😂😂
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