BUTTERWORTH, Jan 9: Residents in the Perai state constituency can help themselves to an additional source of water during the upcoming water disruption, thanks to the initiative of their assemblyman, Datuk Seri S Sundarajoo.
He chanced upon the novel idea of converting an abandoned fish pond in Perai Eco Park near Taman Kimsar into an emergency water retention pond for the needs of his constituents during the forthcoming four-day water disruption.
His publicity officer, R Mohan, said the 1.5m deep pond, could hold up to 500,000 cubic litres of water. It was cleaned in a gotong-royong on Jan 5 after it was abandoned a year ago.
“Yesterday, volunteer firefighters from Sungai Puyu came to help fill water into the pond. Most of the housing areas here are old and don’t have a water tank in the house so the amount of water,” he said, adding that the water was only suitable for bathing or washing clothes and not for drinking or cooking.
In addition to the pond, 20 1,000-litre tanks have been supplied to every village community management council and hotspots in Perai by donors and factory operators in the Perai industrial area. The Penang state government has also donated 20 1,200 litre containers.
— BERNAMA