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He said the first operation on May 2-4 produced a minimal amount of rain, equivalent to water supply for 3.5 days at Teluk Bahang dam and a day’s supply for local use at Air Itam dam.
“Although the amount is small, it really helped us prepare supplies so that clean water can continue to be distributed to users,” he told reporters after visiting the Sungai Dua water treatment plant.
On May 2, cloud-seeding operations were carried out in the catchment area of the Teluk Bahang and Air Itam dams on Penang island, following a fall in raw water reserves.
Chow who is chairman of the Penang Water Supply Corporation (PBAPP), said the state government through PBAPP takes water from the Bukit Dumbar reservoir to be channelled to the Air Itam dam.
“Through this method, even if the water level at the Air Itam dam continues to decrease, at least it will drop little by little,” he added.
He said PBAPP is investing about RM1.2 billion on water supply projects over the next five years.
Five projects to increase water treatment capacity are to be completed between this year and 2028 in Bukit Panchor, Sungai Dua, Mengkuang dam, Sungai Kerian and Sungai Perai.
The projects will also enable Penang to take advantage of three new additional sources of raw water at Mengkuang dam, and from the Kerian and Perai rivers.
He said three new projects involve creating a 13km-long pipeline from Sungai Dua to Butterworth by next year, a 3.9km-long pipeline from the Macallum area to the Bukit Dumbar reservoir and pump station; and a new water treatment plant at the Muda river to increase the water treatment capacity by 114 million litres per day.
Chow said the state would still require raw water from the Perak river.
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