GEORGE TOWN – Works to replace two leaking 1.2m control valve units at the Sg Dua water treatment plant (WTP), as well as water works and preventive maintenance projects at 22 other locations were fully completed last night.
Penang Water Supply Corporation (PBAPP) chief executive officer K. Pathmanantan said all the water works planned at Sg Dua WTP and 22 other locations were completed ahead of schedule and water supply restoration had started around 11pm last night.
“Water supply is being normalised in stages today for 197,025 water consumers, which is 33% of the 590,000 affected users in Seberang Prai, and stage one (restoration) needs to be completed by 6am tomorrow as scheduled.
“Level one restoration is not affected by the incident in Sg Perai because Sg Dua WTP is pumping water to level one restoration users through other main pipelines,” he said in a statement today.
He said stage two is expected to be implemented starting at 6.01am tomorrow where PBAPP aims to normalise water supply to 495,065 consumers, which is 84% of the 590,000 affected users in Seberang Prai and other parts of the island.
Pathmanathan said the success of stage two as scheduled, depends on restarting the operation of the damaged section on the Sg Perai underwater pipeline.
He said PBAPP is working hard to complete the emergency repair works of Sg Perai today and will continue to provide updates on work progress.
“Work is being carried out at Sg Perai after it was delayed last night due to a technical problem where one of the clamps specially designed to be placed over the 1.35m-long hole on the pipeline could not be properly installed,” he said.
He said the diving operation was suspended and a heavy crane was brought in and used to lift the unsuitable clamp for on-site modifications.
“This is the fastest engineering solution with the lowest risk of long delays and commercial diving teams are scheduled to lock the modified clamps in place on the damaged pipeline today,” he said.
Earlier, PBAPP announced that approximately 590,000 consumers, including non-domestic ones, will experience scheduled water disruption for 96 hours starting at 6am yesterday until 6am on January 14 to allow for the replacement of two valve units at the Sg Dua WTP as well as other ancillary work at 22 locations throughout Penang.
However, PBAPP expects at least 101 areas in the Seberang Prai Utara and Seberang Prai Tengah (SPT) districts will receive water supply after 48 hours, while a total of 157 areas involve SPT, Seberang Prai Selatan, as well as northeast and southwest districts on the island will start receiving water supply after 72 hours. – January 11, 2024
