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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:
This page was updated on 27th January 2024 with information on the
Teluk Bahang Pump House...
This page was updated on 11th January 2023 with information on the
Sungai Pinang Water Treatment Plant..
This page was updated on 26th December 2017 with information on the Sungai
Siru system.
PBA (Perbadanan Bekalan Air) is the body charged with the public water
supply in Penang. They have significant dams at Air Itam, Teluk Bahang (on
the island) 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.
This is the Air Itam Dam which was officially opened in 1962:
This is the more recent Teluk Bahang Dam on the occasion of
the annual Dragon Boat Races in 2017. There is a rain gauge
below the dam at the pumphouse.
The main dams at Teluk Bahang and above Air Itam are open to the public. In
the past, installations such as the Guillemard Reservoir were open to the
public for recreational purposes and the road to the filtration plant off
Jalan Lembah Permai in Tanjung Bunga similarly remains open on an informal
basis. This page covers some of the less well known places, all of which are
officially restricted but which, in practice are readily visited unless you
are unlucky enough to meet the wrong person making an occasional visit.
Missing from here is an account of the historic 'Waterfall Gardens'
abstraction, it has been firmly closed to the public for some years, but
there is at least one
good account on the web.
Tiger Hill Reservoir (Lower)
We came across this on our first visit
to the Tiger Hill Valley in 2012, basically there is a small dam here to
impound water which is pumped to a reservoir on top of Tiger Hill which is
used to supply the main hill. There is a small abandoned house nearby,
presumably once used by water board staff. I haven't been here for many
years, it may also have acquired a rain gauge. There is a further storage
facility (it may be classed as a reservoir) on the ridge above here off the
Summit Road (noted 7th March 2025).
Titi Kerawang / Sungai Pinang Catchment Area
There is a water purification plant next to the round-the-island road above
the village of Sungai Pinang. More information is at the
end of this section.
The upper falls are barely known, but they are readily viewable from
the path opposite the Baoshen Durian Farm just above Titi Kerawang on the
round-the-island road.
The better known lower falls are a tourist attraction and you can follow a
pipeline up a short distance. There's a standard PBA fence and warning
notice. The gate is kept locked, but behind it is a path which leads to the
upper falls.
However, with care, the path is accessible
from the south side and it leads to the abstraction point.
This is a close up view of the actual falls, but note that the approach
to this point is extremely dangerous:
Teluk Bahang Pump House (Added
27th January 2024)
In common with other PBA installations there
is a rain gauge at the rear out of the public gaze. I didn't get the
opportunity to ask about the cylindrical object on the right. It looks like
a poor attempted replica of a traditional rain gauge Of course, this
is hardly a minor installation but it doesn't fit elsewhere!
Sungai Pinang Treatment Works
This is next to the round-the-island road
just above the village. Basically it relies on water from Titi Kerawang but
there is now a pipeline linking there with the Teluk Bahang Dam which allows
water to be pumped between the two according to need. The rain gauge is just
visible on the small hill above the sign.
Batu Ferringhi Dam
Not to be confused with the small dams which are part of the
nearby Fettes Aqueducts. This small
dam is easily accessed by the path which is signposted 'Chin Farm' opposite
the Bay View Beach Resort at the west end of the Batu Ferringhi strip. From
its style, it seems to have been built at about the same time as the
aqueducts. It is no longer accessible following PBA's change in policy post
pandemic.
The area below it is now decorated with catchment area signs
for the 'Anak
Sungai 3V Side Stream' Catchment Area, but I do not know if any
abstraction of water is actually carried out, the amount available will be
small.
Sungai Kelian
The deep valley south from the west end of Tanjung Bunga has
been used for the public water supply since at least 1911. There is a path
running up it parallel to the water pipe from the road leading to the PBA
filtration plant at the corner of Jalan Lembah Permai. We visited
in 2017. The catchment area sign at the dam is a strange creature,
presumably it ought to read Guillemard, but this area is the Sungai Kelian Catchment Area
according to the maps and there are some signs for 'Sungai Klean' (sic) which
I forgot to photograph.
Other Tanjung Bunga Catchment Areas
In the same area are minor abstraction points, that from 'Sungai
Tengah' (I believe misnamed) feeds into the east end of the Fettes Aqueduct
systems:
The stream along the valley below is known as Sungai Kecil
and it obviously has has a long history. The two blue board pictures are
from Peter van der Lans.
The Sungai
Siru Catchment Area has signs near the PBA installation in Jalan Lembah
Permai, Tanjung Bunga (first picture left) which is confusing as the actual
stream feeds into the next door valley where there is an art deco style dam
(I have deliberately left the ugly sign out). The pipe from it runs along a
wide contour trail towards the Jalan Lembah Permai pumping station but it is
broken, probably something that happened long ago, certainly it explains the
presence of a rain gauge on Carla's peak, now abandoned and absent from the
PBA rain gauge map.
Air Itam Area
Coming down the Bat's Cave
route to the north of the Penang Hill Railway Middle Station, there is a
small catchment area which has recently seen the addition of blue signs
which proclaim it to be the 'Anak Sungai Tat' catchment area.
In the area north of the Air Itam Dam off the two roads that run up from a
small temple is another one near the Lean Fah Tong temple.
The Air Itam area is not one where we spend much time. There may well be
other catchment areas and abstraction points for water from the main hill, but I, for one,
wouldn't want to consider drinking any even after treatment as it would be
badly contaminated by agrochemicals.
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