Penang’s water supply is stable until May as Sungai Muda has sufficient raw water, with contingency plans activated to manage the dry season.

GEORGE TOWN: Water supply in Penang is expected to remain stable at least until May despite the current hot and dry weather, provided there is no further large-scale release of water from Sungai Muda in Kedah.

Perbadanan Bekalan Air Pulau Pinang Sdn Bhd (PBAPP) chief executive officer Datuk K. Pathmanathan stated that the raw water source from Sungai Muda is still sufficient for about two months based on the current situation.

He explained that the two main dams in Kedah, namely the Muda Dam and the Beris Dam, have shown a significant trend of capacity reduction since the beginning of the year following water releases for agricultural irrigation.

As of March 28, the capacity of the Muda Dam is at a critical level of 7.19% while the Beris Dam is at 58.06%, with the Muda Dam no longer able to release additional water into Sungai Muda.

Pathmanathan said that based on the current rate of reduction, the remaining storage of the Beris Dam, which is decreasing by 0.56% per day, is estimated to last about 68 days before reaching the critical level of 20% around mid or late June.

Sungai Muda remains the main source of raw water supply for Penang, which is shared with Kedah, with PBAPP abstracting an average of 1,000 million litres per day (MLD) of raw water from the river for treatment at the Sungai Dua Water Treatment Plant (WTP).

The treated water is then supplied to about 465,000 consumers throughout the state, including in Seberang Perai and on the island.

To manage the situation, PBAPP activated the Sungai Muda Contingency Plan 2026 (SMCP 2026) at the end of February to abstract the maximum raw water from Sungai Muda daily to support optimal production at the Sungai Dua WTP.

Water will be released strategically from the Enlarged Mengkuang Dam (EMD) in the event of a shortage of raw water supply from Sungai Muda, with the maximum EMD release capacity limited to 600 MLD.

The ongoing implementation of the Penang Double Dam Defence Programme involves pumping about 407 MLD of treated water from the Sungai Dua WTP to the island to ensure the Air Itam Dam and Teluk Bahang Dam do not dry up.

Pathmanathan noted that SMCP 2026 is expected to help Penang overcome water supply challenges this year but is not a comprehensive solution because the maximum EMD discharge capacity is only 600 MLD against the Sungai Dua WTP’s requirement of about 1,000 MLD.

The status of dams in Penang remains under control, with the Air Itam Dam at 69.38%, the Teluk Bahang Dam at 84.05%, and the EMD at 91.24% as of March 28.

 The Sun Malaysia