Chief minister Chow Kon Yeow said each Penang household must learn to save at least 1,000 to 2,000 litres a day.

“The water in the dam will then last longer,” he told reporters after visiting the dam today.

Two days ago, it was reported that the Air Itam area may be on the brink of a water crisis as the dam was running short of water, with slightly more than a month’s supply left.

The dam’s water level dropped to 39.4% on Sunday as increased pumping to offset losses from a burst pipe in Butterworth worsened the situation. It was at 67% on Jan 6 and over 80% a month ago.

The dam serves residents in Air Itam, Paya Terubong and parts of Green Lane on the island.

Penang Water Supply Corporation CEO K Pathmanathan said the dwindling water level was nothing to worry about as it had dropped to about 20% before but this did not trigger any water cuts.

Pathmanathan said the present water level did not include another 20% of reserves.

“Many water tankers were used to draw water from the dam during the earlier emergency water cuts, which is why the level dropped drastically,” he said.

“We have engineering mitigation plans, which will be revealed next week.”

He said more than 14,000 million litres a day (MLD) of water had been used from the Air Itam dam since early January to cope with the water cuts in other parts of the island.

The dam’s capacity is 22,000 MLD.

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