Penang water cut: Another leak detected in Sungai Perai pipeline, consumers urged to store water

BUTTERWORTH: Another leak has been detected along the underwater pipeline in Sungai Perai on Friday (Jan 12) morning and consumers under Stage 2 of the Water Recovery Plan have been urged to store water for usage.

This involves 495,065 consumers on Penang Island and Seberang Perai, including non-domestic consumers in George Town and Bayan Lepas FTZ.

Penang Water Supply Corporation (PBAPP) in a statement said its personnel were investigating the cause and location of the leak to check if it was at the same section that was repaired on Thursday (Jan 11).

It said despite the leak, water would continue to be pumped through the pipeline for now, but it might be shut down later for emergency repair works.

The second stage of water supply restoration started on Friday with optimal pumping of treated water from the Sungai Dua Water Treatment Plant (WTP) to the island in the state.

It involved 495,065 consumers, or 84%, of the 590,000 consumers affected in Seberang Perai and the island.

Stage one of water supply restoration involving 197,025 users, or 33%, of the affected users in Seberang Perai had been completed.

Sungai Perai was the last location out of a total of 22 locations throughout Penang that underwent ancillary works besides the main task of replacing two 1,200mm valve units at Sungai Dua WTP that left a total of 590,000 user accounts throughout Penang affected by a scheduled water supply disruption on Wednesday (Jan 10).

However, when PBAPP shut off the water supply to allow for the valve repairs, the drop in water pressure dislodged the clamp that was installed on a leaking section of the 1.35m riverbed pipe in Sungai Perai that had burst on Dec 18 last year and took a week to repair.

A more secure clamp had since been placed over a large section of the leaking pipeline before another leak was detected on Friday.