GEORGE TOWN, Jan 14 — The water supply to a total of 590,000 users in the state who had been affected by a scheduled water supply disruption for four days, starting Jan 10, has been fully restored today, said the Perbadanan Bekalan Air Pulau Pinang (PBAPP).
PBAPP said that the third and fourth stages of supply restoration involve 99.5 per cent of the 590,000 affected users in Seberang Perai and the island part of the state and the remaining 0.5 per cent of affected users in the end-of-line (EOL) and hilly areas in the southern part of the island were fully restored at six this morning.
The scheduled water supply disruption was to replace two valve units at the Sungai Dua Water Treatment Plant (LRA) and ancillary work at 22 other locations. All of them were completed on the evening of Jan 10, ahead of schedule.
The restoration of water supply for phase one was carried out in stages involving 197,025 water users which was 33 per cent of the 590,000 affected users in Seberang Perai and supply to all these users was restored at 6am on Jan 12.
Meanwhile, phase two which was the optimal pumping of treated water from the Sungai Dua LRA to the island to restore water supply to 495,065 users or 84 per cent, was fully completed at 6am on Jan 13.
PBAPP, in a separate statement, said that it estimated the loss of 110 million litres per day (MLD) of non-revenue water (NRW) due to a leak in the Sungai Perai underwater pipeline on Friday (Jan 12).
“Recovery operations in Sungai Perai are now ongoing at the emergency response stage with close monitoring being carried out by commercial divers.
“The next stage is an interim solution, which is the proposed installation of a 2 x 600 millimetre (mm) pipeline next to the Ampang Jajar bridge to replace the damaged riverbed pipeline,” it said.
It added that preliminary work for the replacement of the pipe has already started and is expected to be completed within 21 days.
PBAPP also said that the most rational permanent solution is to install a new 1,350mm pipeline supported by a robust and independent structure.
It added that the approval of the RM5 million budget for that purpose will be expedited and if approved it will take four to six months to implement. — Bernama
