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Penang Hills and Trails - The Air Itam Reservoir |
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This is one of a series of pages on walking the hills of Penang, click here for the index. I have prepared some pages on 'water' in the context of Penang's hills, covering rain gauges, catchment areas and some of the lesser known dams and reservoirs. I must stress that what is presented is unofficial and empirical, derived almost entirely from what I have found as I have explored. Unfortunately, while the various bodies which are involved are quite good at erecting signs (which are then left to rust) they are poor at public communication. You can search the web in vain for any official information and on the one occasion I tried to approach the PBA directly, it was like communicating with a brick wall. See also:
PBA (Perbadanan Bekalan Air) is the body charged with the public water supply in Penang. They have significant dams at Air Itam, Teluk Bahang and Mengkuang (in Seberang Prai) together with smaller dams and reservoirs elsewhere. They operate the Fettes aqueduct behind Batu Ferringhi and a system of interconnected pipelines. In fact, I have read that this supplies barely 20% of Penang's needs, the rest coming from the Muda river in neighbouring Kedah. Amazingly, Penang has both the cheapest water in the country (thanks to a massive subsidy) and the highest per capita consumption, no doubt the two are related and it's clearly not sustainable. My last rain gauge was the (wrongly assumed RG 1) at the Air Itam Reservoir near the Hill Railway Road roundabout (not to be confused with the Air Itam Dam). I had visited the PBA offices in Komtar to request permission but was told I needed to send an email to the lady in Corporate Affairs whom I met. This I did but it was ignored. So I had to play the system and that meant walking in on a Sunday when I was sure (correctly as it turns out) that there would be no one on the gate. Reckon on having about 15 minutes before someone asks what you are doing, don't wait for the sun to come out - if you tell them you are photographing the rain gauge and even show them the picture, like me you'll probably escape alive... Anyway this is how to photograph reservoir and rain gauge without setting foot in the place. I later learned that the official RG 1 is that in the water works above the Botanical Gardens which is officially inaccessible like RG 5 which is on Western Hill.
For the record, the rain gauge is situated in the open area on the upper side of the reservoir, just walk up the access road as far as you can and go into the grassy area on the left. It would be foolish to try to enter any of the operational areas, which involve treatment of the water to ensure it is in fit condition for consumers.
After I had secured my picture, I walked out round the reservoir, it was too good an opportunity to miss, it's another minor colonial classic. The reservoir dates from 1914, I'm not sure when the treatment works were built.
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