AN official handing over ceremony of the management of the Mengkuang Dam from the Federal Government to the Penang government will be held on Oct 26, says state Transport and Infrastructure Committee chairman Zairil Khir Johari.
He said Environmental and Water Minister Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man, whom Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow and himself met in a meeting in Putrajaya on Sept 24, would be present at the ceremony.
“The dam will be open to the public on Nov 15 under standard operating procedure (SOP),” Zairil said when replying to an oral question raised by Goh Choon Aik (PH-Bukit Tambun) regarding the status of Mengkuang Dam at the State Legislative Assembly in Dewan Sri Pinang today.
“However, not all the places in the dam are open to the public. Only 2.7km will be open as the slope stabilising works by Public Works Department are still ongoing over there.’’
On the effective capacity of Teluk Bahang Dam and Air Itam Dam that Goh would like to know, Zairil said the water levels are at 27.5% and 46% respectively.
He said for the Teluk Bahang Dam to be at full capacity, it would need daily rainfall for six straight months.
“In order to meet the water demand, the Penang Water Supply Corporation (PBAPP) has optimitised the water supply from the Sungai Dua WTP with a daily average of 963.2 million litres since Jan 1 2020.
“The Teluk Bahang Dam is located in a natural water catchment area, but since last year, it has been having low rainfall there whereas, the Mengkuang Dam, which is not a natural water catchment area and built for storage purposes, received high rainfall.
“The change in this distribution of rainfall in Penang is caused by climate change which is unpredictable.
“Therefore, this has impacted the water capacity of both the dams,’’ said Zairil.
He also gave a breakdown on the water consumption in Penang for the first eight months: January and February (53,781,874 cubic metres), March and April (50,617,835 cubic metres), May and June (48,994,222 cubic metres) and July and Aug (56,279,260 cubic metres).
Story by Tanushalini Moroter
Pix by Alvie Cheng