GEORGE TOWN, May 14 – Penang faced a major water crisis on Sunday, May 14, 2023 when an unknown mishap occurred at Sungai Muda, upstream in Kedah. This incident caused the water level at the raw water inlet for PBAPP’s Lahar Tiang Intake to drop below 1.0m, which is significantly lower than the normal level of above 2.0m. As a result, Penang’s primary raw water resource became unusable, and PBAPP was unable to abstract raw water from Sungai Muda.
More than 80% of the raw water that PBAPP abstracts daily to produce treated water comes from Sungai Muda. The Sungai Dua Water Treatment Plant (WTP) is Penang’s largest and most important WTP. It receives raw water from Sungai Muda and produces about 1,000 million litres per day (MLD) of treated water, which is supplied throughout Seberang Perai and the southern areas of Penang Island. However, due to the sudden incident at Sungai Muda, the Sungai Dua WTP could not produce its normal volume of treated water.
PBAPP initiated an emergency response and is drawing down water from the Expanded Mengkuang Dam (EMD) to support water production at the Sungai Dua WTP. However, the drawdown is limited to 300 MLD, which is insufficient to make up for the shortfall from Sungai Muda. Treated water production at the Sungai Dua WTP is currently limited to 600 MLD – 650 MLD until PBAPP can resume 100% raw water abstraction operations at Lahar Tiang. Unfortunately, it is unclear when this will happen. Investigations are currently being carried out by Pengurusan Lembangan Sungai Muda (PLSM), the National Water Services Commission (SPAN), and the Penang Water Supply Authority (BKSA).
This mishap is now affecting water supply for thousands of Penang water consumers in Seberang Perai Utara (SPU), Seberang Perai Tengah (SPT), Seberang Perai Selatan (SPS), and the southern areas of Penang Island. Some consumers in the affected areas will experience low water pressure or no water supply from today until Wednesday. The PBAPP engineering team is working around the clock to optimize raw water abstraction operations at Lahar Tiang Intake and water production operations at the Sungai Dua WTP.
However, it is uncertain when water supply services in Penang will be fully normalized for all consumers because the Sungai Muda river level must recover to 2.0m or higher. PBAPP seeks the understanding and support of the people of Penang during this difficult time. The situation is caused by an unforeseen mishap, and PBAPP is doing its best to address the negative impacts in Penang. The company will continue to update the Penang State Government and the public on this matter regularly via mass media and social media.
