BUTTERWORTH: The Penang Water Supply Corporation (PBAPP) is committed to meeting the 6am deadline tomorrow to complete all water works, especially the replacement of two leaking control valves, which warranted the shutdown of the Sungai Dua Water Treatment Plant (WTP).
The shutdown resulted in a four-day water supply interruption (SWSI) to some 590,000 water consumers throughout the state.
PBAPP chief executive officer K. Pathmanathan said PBAPP had safely shut down the Sungai Dua WTP temporarily to facilitate urgent waterworks projects.
He said the primary work project was the replacement of two units of leaving 1.2m control valves at the Sungai Dua WTP.
"Work is progressing as planned. We have achieved 60 per cent progress with one of the valves and 30 per cent with the second valve.
"However, our emergency response team (ERT) is dealing with an issue at Sungai Prai. When we shut down water supply this morning, the drop in water pressure dislodged the clamp that we installed on a leaking section of the 1.35m underwater pipe last month.
"We have deployed a team of 16 commercial divers to install a more secure clamp over a larger section of the leaking pipeline. They are at work, on-site.
"For now, our target has not changed. We are scrambling to complete all works as scheduled, by 6am tomorrow, including the Sungai Prai emergency response work," he told reporters during a site visit to the Sungai Dua WTP, where valves replacement works are currently underway.
According to Pathmanathan, PBAPP is still planning to initiate stage one water supply recovery works as planned, from 6.01am to tomorrow.
"Once water supply recovery works are done, then some areas, particularly in the Seberang Prai Utara and Seberang Prai Tengah districts can expect to get water supply by 6am Friday.
"Seberang Prai Selatan district and Penang island can expect to get water supply by 6am on Saturday and end-of-line and higher ground consumers to get water supply by 6am on Sunday he added.
Elaborating on the Sungai Prai emergency response work, Pathmanathan said it has been 50 per cent completed.
"We will complete the remaining 50 per cent works by 6am tomorrow."As for the other 22 works, we have completed 15 works," he said.
Earlier today, Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow announced on his Facebook page that one of the two leaking valves has been successfully replaced.
During a visit to the Sungai Dua WTP yesterday, Chow had reminded PBAPP to prioritise three key matters on its "to do list" with regard to the four-day water supply disruption beginning today.
The three included getting the engineering work done in 24 hours, to stick to the water supply recovery schedule and to keep the public informed.
Last month, about 200,000 consumers in parts of Seberang Prai and the southwest district on the island were affected following unscheduled water supply disruption due to a mishap at Sungai Prai.
The incident was caused by a burst 1,350mm-long pipeline lying on the riverbed of Sungai Prai.(Hyperlink: https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2023/12/992188/burst-1350mm-pipeline-...).
This is a major pipeline that delivers treated water from the Sungai Dua WTP to the 3rd Penang Twin Submarine pipelines that spans from Butterworth on the mainland to the Macallum area on Penang island.
Water consumers took the state government and PBAPP to task after many only received water supply after a week. They expressed concern that the four-day disruption may prolong.
