GEORGE TOWN: The Penang Water Supply Corporation (PBAPP) has rescheduled the normalisation of supply for the 118,000 affected consumers in Seberang Perai Tengah (SPT) and Seberang Perai Selatan (SPS) to noon tomorrow.
PBAPP chief executive officer K. Pathmanathan said that, according to the original schedule, consumers were supposed to have their water supply restored at 10 pm today, but a section of the pipeline in Seberang Perai Utara (SPU) was found to be leaking near the main valve installation, resulting in the water normalisation process having to be rescheduled.
“It (the pipe) broke when PBAPP staff tried to minimise the leakage by tightening the bolts on the installation at 8 pm today. The broken section of the pipeline is part of a 1.2-metre (m) treated water pipeline leading to the new pipeline connected in front of the Seberang Perai Polytechnic in Permatang Pauh today,“ he said in a statement tonight.
Due to that incident, Pathmanathan said PBAPP could not pump water from the Sungai Dua Water Treatment Plant (LRA) to Permatang Pauh without repairing the section of the pipeline at Jalan Pengkalan Tambang that had burst.
He said emergency repair work will be carried out tonight and early tomorrow morning to fix the broken section of the main pipeline and he apologised to all affected users for the inconvenience caused.
Earlier, PBAPP said that the new 1.2m-diameter pipeline replacement project near the Seberang Perai Polytechnic campus in Permatang Pauh was 90 per cent complete and final work on the replacement project, including welding, is actively being carried out.
PBAPP also said that about 118,000 user accounts in over 40 areas in the SPT and SPS districts would experience scheduled water supply disruptions from 10 pm on Oct 4 to 10 pm tonight.
