GEORGE TOWN – The situation at the Air Itam Dam, which had previously seen its capacity drop due to prolonged hot weather, has now improved and exceeded the alert level with a current capacity of 52%.
Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the dam had previously dipped to 40% effective capacity, which is the alert level, last month and was projected to only last for 40 days then.
“I receive the statistics daily and monitoring shows that the Air Itam Dam is storing more and more water and has exceeded the alert level.
“Before, it was at alert level two (40%) but did not reach the critical level... it is now no longer in the red zone,” he told reporters after the opening of the Penang International Halal Expo and Conference here today.
Chow was responding to the National Water Services Commission’s statement that eight of the country’s 43 dams in five states, namely Johor, Perlis, Kedah, Penang, and Perak, were at the alert level.
Chow further said that the effective capacity of the Teluk Bahang Dam was currently less than 50% as it is a large dam that takes more time to fill.
He said the effective capacity of the Mengkuang Dam is 88%, which means it neither rises nor falls as it is a storage dam that does not release water for irrigation on a normal day and is only used in emergencies.
It was reported last month that the Air Itam Dam’s water reserves would last only 40 days, while the Teluk Bahang Dam would last 146 days following prolonged hot weather in many parts of the country.
On May 8, the water level of the Air Itam Dam dipped to 41.5% and 48.1% at the Teluk Bahang Dam.
Following this, Penang requested the federal government for cloud-seeding assistance to trigger rain in its water catchment areas.
On June 12, a second cloud-seeding exercise was carried out at both dams, a month after the first one. – Bernama, June 23, 2023
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