THE Penang Water Supply Corporation (PBAPP) has once again gone into alert mode after the water supply for Penang was found to be murky and brought about by flash floods in Baling, Kedah.
PBAPP chief executive officer Datuk K. Pathmanathan said the flash floods were the result of earlier land-clearing activities in the Ulu Muda area near Baling.
Flooding in Baling has caused raw water drained from the shared water body of Sungai Muda to be abnormally turbid or murky, he said.
This was detected on Tuesday but since then the situation in Baling has stabilised when flood waters receded in the hilly district, some 90 km away from the island state.
Pathmanathan said PBAPP went into alert mode in the predawn hours on Tuesday and managed to avert an unscheduled water supply interruption (UWSI) in Penang arising from floods in the neighbouring state.
Floods in Baling washed down debris and detritus into Sungai Muda, causing the river water to become abnormally turbid or murky at PBAPP’s Lahar Tiang intake in Seberang Perai, Penang.
On Tuesday, the river water turbidity level was 400 NTU (nephelometric turbidity units) at Lahar Tiang. The normal turbidity level is 200 NTU.
Sungai Muda is Penang’s primary raw water resource and PBAPP abstracts water daily for pumping to the Sungai Dua water treatment plant (WTP), Penang’s largest and most important WTP, said Pathmanathan, an engineer.
PBAPP activated its emergency response plan concerning Sungai Muda by drawing down raw water from 72 million litres to 240 million litres a day from the expanded Mengkuang Dam (EMD).
The objective was to “dilute” the turbidity of raw water at the point of entry to the Sungai Dua WTP (the balancing pond), and it worked.
Pathmanathan drew lessons from the past, citing that in July 2022, a previous Baling flood incident caused the turbidity of Sungai Muda water to shoot up to 3,000 NTU at Lahar Tiang.
This caused PBAPP to reduce raw water abstraction from Sungai Muda, which, in turn, caused treated water production at the Sungai Dua to drop.
Insufficiently treated water from the Sungai Dua WTP led to a UWSI in Penang that affected about 465,000 water consumers.
In comparison, there was no UWSI, 24 hours after the Baling floods were reported.
PBAPP, however, will continue to implement a water dilution approach for the next 48 hours as a “safety measure”, in case there is a sudden unforeseen spike in the turbidity of the raw water from Sungai Muda, said Pathmanathan
Before his retirement, Pathmanathan's predecessor Datuk Jaseni Maidinsa had issued countless statements, citing the need for Kedah to reduce logging activities in Ulu Muda, as it can lead to disruption to the main catchment area for the northern states.
Ulu Muda, through the Sungai Muda passage, provides raw water for Kedah, Perlis and Penang.
His appeal fell on deaf ears, as Kedah in return demanded compensation if Penang and the civil societies wanted the approved logging concessions to be stopped.
The issue has lingered to become polemic with Kedah mulling seeking compensation via legal approach, while Penang is willing to meet such a challenge. - October 4, 2024.
