Sept 10 – 16 2006, PWTC, Kuala Lumpur

DROUGHT MANAGEMENT AND MITIGATION – THE PENANG

EXPERIENCE

Teoh Boon Pin

The Department of Irrigation and Drainage, Penang, Malaysia

ABSTRACT
Most states in Malaysia have an average rainfall of 2,500mm which is considered relatively
abundant. However, due to temporal and spatial variation as well as climatic changes and
increased in domestic and industrial water demand, some areas like Penang and the Klang
Valley are increasingly facing water stress.

To monitor water resources and provide early warning on the onset of droughts, reference
was made to the DID Online Drought Monitoring System which monitors the percentage of
deviation from the long term mean (LTM) value of 3 monthly moving rainfall totals. Also the
available water resources, i.e. stream flow at extraction point and storage in upstream dams
are monitored and compared to the total demands of major users who are pumping from the
Muda River. If the indices point to the onset of drought, An Interagency Committee on The
Coordination of Water Extraction From Muda River is activated to propose drought
management strategies and mitigation measures. Proposals will be made to abandon or
postpone planting schedules depending on the drought severity.

For less severe droughts, alternative irrigation schedules, longer presaturation periods and
optimized scheduled areas (for reducing peak demands) as well as water conservation and
saving actions will be proposed. The modified irrigation schedules were further discussed at
the Committee For Fixing Planting Schedule before implementation. Actions to supplement
water supply like water recycling, request of inter state water transfer from Beris Dam in Kedah
and request for cloud seeding will also be among the contingency plans. A Water Resource
Management System is used to balance the water resources from the river, direct rainfall onto
the irrigation areas and dam release with the total water demand from both the domestic and
industrial demands as well as irrigation demands in both Penang and Kedah.

The Online Drought Monitoring System needs to be upgraded so as to provide a more

reliable early warning system for droughts. There is also a need to formulate a drought
policy and to improve drought management plans and mitigation measures to prevent
conflicts and reduce impacts as drought frequencies increase.

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This Paper is presented at The 3rd Asian Regional Conference, Kuala Lumpur, 13-15 September 2006

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 7th International Micro Irrigation Congress

DROUGHT MANAGEMENT AND MITIGATION –

THE PENANG EXPERIENCE1

Teoh Boon Pin

The Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID),
Penang, Malaysia

ABSTRACT
Most states in Malaysia have an average rainfall of 2,500mm which is considered relatively
abundant. However, due to temporal and spatial variation as well as climatic changes and
increase in domestic and industrial water demand, some areas like Penang and the Klang
Valley are increasingly facing water stress.

To monitor water resources and provide early warning on the onset of droughts, reference
is made to the DID Online Drought Monitoring System which monitors the percentage of
deviation from the long term mean (LTM) value of 3 monthly moving rainfall totals. Also the
available water resources, i.e. stream flows at extraction points and storages in upstream
dams are monitored and compared to the total demands of major users who are pumping
from the Muda River. If the indices point to the onset of drought, An Interagency Committee
on The Coordination of Water Extraction From Muda River is activated to propose drought
management strategies and mitigation measures. Proposals will be made to abandon or
postpone planting schedules depending on the drought severity.

For less severe droughts, alternative irrigation schedules, longer presaturation periods and
optimized scheduled areas (for reducing peak demands) as well as water conservation and
saving actions will be proposed. The modified irrigation schedules are further discussed at
the Committee For Fixing Planting Schedule before implementation. Actions to supplement
water supply like water recycling, request of inter state water transfer from Beris Dam in
Kedah and request for cloud seeding will also be among the contingency plans. A Water
Resource Management System is used to balance the water resources from the river, direct
rainfall onto the irrigation areas and dam release with the total water demand from both
the domestic and industrial demands as well as irrigation demands in both Penang and
Kedah.

The Online Drought Monitoring System needs to be upgraded so as to provide a more reliable
early warning system for droughts. There is also a need to formulate a drought policy and
to improve drought management plans and mitigation measures to prevent conflicts and
reduce impacts as drought frequency increases.

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This Paper is presented at The 3rd Asian Regional Conference, Kuala Lumpur, 13-15 September 2006

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1.0 Introduction

Most states in Malaysia have average annual rainfall of about 2,500 mm which is considered
relatively abundant. However due to spatial and temporal variations, some areas like Penang
and the Klang Valley are facing water stress problems during drought periods. In Penang,
the water stress problems are becoming more frequent and severe during the last decade
probably due to increase in domestic and industrial water demand and climatic changes.

80% of water resources in Penang are from Muda River which has a catchment of 4,210
km 2 where 95% of it is located in Kedah. For the state of Penang, water withdrawal from
the Muda River for irrigation is expected to increase only slightly from 132 MCM/year in
2002 to about 135 MCM/year in 2010, while domestic and industrial water demand will
increase significantly from 225 MCM/year to 350 MCM/year during the same period.
Kedah state is also increasingly pumping more from Muda River for both irrigation as well
as domestic and industrial water demand. For the whole Muda River Basin, the total extraction
is expected to increase from 2026 MCM in year 1995 to about 2150 MCM in year 2010.

The main water users of Muda River after Ladang Victoria Station are as below:

(1) Penang State

o Penang Water Supply Corporation at Lahar Tiang for domestic water supply at 7-8.5
cumecs
o DID of Seberang Perai Utara Distrct – paddy irrigation of 8,859 hectares (Muda River
Scheme, Pinang Tunggal and Sg. Jarak scheme) ; 9 – 21 cumecs is required

(2) Kedah State

o Department of Water Supply, Kuala Muda District for domestic water supply at about
4 cumecs
o DID of Kuala Muda District and Kulim District – paddy irrigation for 5,307 hectares;
5 – 11 cumecs is required

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Fig. 1 - The Muda River Basin

Fig. 2 – Upstream Dam Supplements (mcm)

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Note : OS – Off Season, MS – Main Season

Climatic changes like raised temperatures which cause increased evaporations and changes
in rainfall patterns also affect the water resource scenarios. Consequently, the frequency of
droughts and water stress problems increase especially during the last decade. In Penang,
water stress situations were encountered during the 1998 off season, 2002 off season, 2005
off season, 2005 main season and 2006 off seasons where inter state water transfer from
dams in kedah were required as shown in Fig. 2.

2.0 Drought Monitoring

To monitor water resource status and the possible onset of drought, the Online Drought
Monitoring System (ODMS) developed by The Hydrology and Water Resource Division of
DID Malaysia is used. Since water resource in a river basin is closely linked to the amount
of rainfall falling in the catchment, the percentage of deviation from the long term mean (LTM)
value of 3 monthly moving rainfall totals is used as indicator of the water resource status in
the river basins. A negative deviation from the LTM value indicates that the particular basin
is experiencing a dryer than normal condition and vise versa. The rainfall data for a total
of 41 selected stations are monitored and analyzed to provide indication of the water resource
status of the various river basins (please see fig. 3). For the case of Penang, the rainfall station
at Pinang Tunggal is monitored to provide early warning on the onset of drought.

Generally if a certain catchment is receiving rainfall (3 monthly rainfall totals) less than 60%
of the LTM for a consecutive period of 3 months and more, this is taken as an indication of
the onset of a drought. This can be confirmed by using the Standardized Precipitation Index
(SPI) which is the reduced variate of standard normal distribution (McKee, 1997). A SPI
reading of -1 or less indicates the onset of drought and the drought episode ends when the
SPI becomes positive.

Meanwhile, reference is made to Malaysian Meteorological Service (MMS) website for any
dry weather forecast and occurrence of El Nino. The El Nino phenomenon is closely linked
to occurrence of drought events as happened during the 1997-1998 period.

At the same time, the water level at Ladang Victoria Station, which is about 18 km upstream
(10 hours flow time) of the main intake at Bumbung Lima Pump house is being monitored
(please see fig. 4 and 5). The real time water level at Ladang Victoria Station is accessed
through the online website at http://infobanjir.water.gov.my/penangw.htm. The stream flow
is then obtained from the latest Stage vs. Discharge curve obtained through river discharge
gauging. The gauging has to be carried out every year due to the dynamic changes of the
sandy river beds.

The available steam flow is then compared to the total current demand to assess any water
stress situation. Before the start of an irrigation supply season, the expected increases in the
total demand should be considered. Normally, if the stream flow at Ladang Victoria Station
is less than 25 cumecs, it is impossible to start the irrigation supply season unless request for
interstate water transfer in the form of dam releases in Kedah is to be considered. Before year
2005, this means the available storages at Pedu and Muda Dams need to be monitored. After
year 2005, Beris Dam was completed and the storage there needs to be considered. In fact,
any possible request of interstate water transfer will now be from Beris Dam which has a
storage of 122.4 mcm and located at about 60 km north of Muda Irrigation Scheme in
Penang.

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Fig. 3 - Monitoring Water Resources Using ODMS

After AHMAD JAMALLUDDIN BIN SHAABAN & LOW KOON SENG

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Penang

On-Line River Level Data (m) - above Mean Sea Level

Date: 31/08/2006 Time: 19:05

Fig. 4 – Real Time Monitoring Water Resources Based On River Stage and Discharge

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Fig. 5 – Location of Telemetric Rainfall and Water Level Station In Penang

Fig. 6 – Location Of Muda River and Pinang Tunggal Irrigation Scheme In Penang

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3.0 Drought Management

If the current indices like LTV and SPI indicate the onset of drought, drought monitoring is
intensified especially during about 1 month before the start of the irrigation supply season.
Usually The Committee For Fixing The Planting Schedule will meet about 2 weeks before the
normal starting date of supply. For the off season, normally the supply starts at around 1 st
March whereas for the main season, it is normally around 1st September. However, if the
indices show that there is a drought, then An Interagency Committee on The Coordination
of Water Extraction From Muda River will be activated by convening a meeting preferably
before The Committee For Fixing The Planting Schedule meets to discuss the new planting
and supply schedule.

In the Interagency Committee meeting, the available water resources are assessed as compared
to the expected total demand when the irrigation supply starts for the various irrigation
schemes. Normally the minimum flow rate at Ladang Victoria Station should be about 25
cumecs before it is considered safe to determine the starting of the planting and supply
season. If the current stream flow is less than 25 cumecs, then the Malaysian Meteorological
Department is asked to provide a forecast on the rainfall expected in the next one month.
Normally, the supply season can be postponed up to one month without affecting the next
season. If the forecast indicates that sufficient rain will fall before the new proposed date of
supply, the supply season will thus be postponed. However, if the forecast indicates that
rainfall will come later, then consideration will be for the request of interstate water transfer
from Beris Dam if its storage is sufficient for the season’s shortfall. If the available dam storage
is insufficient, then the planting season will be proposed to be cancelled or reduced in area.

3.1 Drought Strategies and Mitigation Action Plans

If the decision is to proceed with the planting season, various strategies and action plans will
be considered to manage and mitigate the drought impacts.

3.1.1 Reducing Water Demands

Various proposals will be made to reduce the water demands especially during the drought
period. These measures are as described below:
a) Reducing Peak Water Demands

The domestic and industrial water demand for Penang has increased from about 7 cumecs
about 5 years ago to 8.5 cumecs now. For South Kedah, the domestic and industrial demand
has also increased from about 2.5 cumecs to 4 cumecs. Thus during the low flow period
where the flow rate in Muda River is usually less than 10 cumecs and thus is insufficient for
the domestic and industrial water demand alone. In such circumstances, Penang Water Supply
Corporation has a few small dams like Mengkuang, Telok Bahang and Ayer Itam Dams which
will provide the supplementary supply and reducing the pumping rate from Muda River by
about 3 cumecs. However, the total storage of these small dams is no more than 46 mcm.
With ever increasing water demands, the period which these small dams can sustain
supplements are getting shorter during droughts.

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The main irrigation demands are from three districts in two states, i.e. Seberang Perai Utara
District in Penang, Kuala Muda District and Kulim District in Kedah. In Seberang Perai Utara
District, the relevant irrigation area is 8,859 hectares consisting of Muda River Scheme and
Pinang Tunggal Scheme (please see Fig. 6). In Kuala Muda District, the relevant irrigation
area is 4,827 hectares consisting of Kota II, Pekula, Pg. Tunggal, Pantai Perai and Sidam
Kiri Irrigation Schemes. In Kulim District, the total irrigation area is about 453 hectares
consisting of Sidam Kanan Scheme. Normally, the irrigation schedules for the various schemes
are not optimized and the total peak water demand (including domestic and industrial)
exceeds 50 cumecs which far exceeds stream flows during drought period at about 7-8
cumecs. Most of the irrigation schemes practice two or three irrigation schedules. By reducing
the irrigation areas of the earlier schedules and lengthening the presaturation period from
10 to 15 days, the irrigation schedules are optimized to reduce the peak demand from 50
cumecs to about 30 cumecs only. However, it is important to have consultative meetings with
local irrigation operators, Head of water user groups and Farmers’ Unit so that the rescheduled
areas are both pragmatic and acceptable to the target groups. These alternative irrigation
schedules are necessary because it is impossible to start the supply season even with the
supplementary release of about 13.5 cumecs (after losses) from Beris Dam when the base
flow is less than 10 cumecs. The proposed optimized irrigation schedules are then discussed
in the Committee For Fixing Planting Schedule before implementation.

b) Water Saving Actions

Before irrigation supply season is started, a briefing is given to DID district staffs and
Department of Agriculture (DOA) about actions to conserve water. These actions include:

Repair and maintain all control gates before supply season

Ensure all Drainage Control, Tidal Control gates are closed during supply
Locate suitable sites for water recycling
Provide extension services and awareness campaigns to farmers about water
conservation practices :
Maintain farm ridges, close gates, adopt good water management practices
and following planting schedules closely
Circulate fliers to farmers about water saving actions
Promote and support water users’ group’s activity in equitable water sharing and
adoption of best water management practices
Rotational irrigation to be practiced when necessary
Daily feedbacks on actual demands and pumping/diversions

During normal seasons, irrigation efficiency is only about 55-65%. However, during the
droughts of 1998 and 2002, irrigation efficiency improved to about 65-75% showing a
significant change of attitude and behaviour of both the farmers and irrigation operators.

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3.1.2 Supplementary Supplies

Beside depending on Muda River as the main water source, other supplementary water
resources need to be considered.

a) Dams

The 6 small dams operated by Penang Water Supply Corporation with a total storage of
about 46 mcm can only provide supplementary release of about 3 cumecs in times of drought
for limited period. However, this supplementary water resource is becoming increasingly
inadequate even for domestic and industrial water demand alone during drought periods.
There is a need to increase the storage so that Penang is at lease self sufficient for domestic
and industrial supply during droughts in the coming years. Supplementary releases from
dams in Kedah mean interstate water transfer. Any hope of supplements from Pedu or Muda
Dams is now slim because North and Central Kedah areas are itself water stressed due to
the huge paddy areas. Beris Dam which was completed in 2004 with a storage of 122.4
mcm is supposed to serve South Kedah and Penang. However, the present maximum
supplementary release of about 15 cumecs may be inadequate during droughts if water
demand reduction measures are not being taken. Also the request for supplementary release
from Beris Dam is usally carried in an ad hoc manner only. Although Muda River traverses
Kedah and Penang, there is no single body or institution to coordinate and manage the water
resources for the equitable use of both states and various sectors. There is no agreement or
clear set of rules for operation of dams or sharing of water resources especially during severe
droughts to prevent conflicts and reduce drought impacts.

b) Cloud Seedings

To increase rainfall in the catchment of Muda River or the irrigated area itself, requests can
be made to Malaysian Meteological Department to carry cloud seedings provided there is
moisture in the clouds concerned. Rainfall in the catchment will increase the stream flow
whereas direct rainfall in the irrigated areas will reduce the water demand. However, the
cloud seeding operation is quite costly and is ineffective if there are little moisture in the
clouds.

c) Water Recycling

Mobile pumps of about 2-5 cusecs can be located at suitable sites, for instance near the
intersections of main canals and drains to carry out water recycling. However, since the
operation of Muda Irrigation Scheme is accredited with EMS ISO 14001: 2004, there are
some standards on the quality of irrigation water which can be used and also on the quality
of drainage water which can be discharged into the drainage system. Probably due to
excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides, water quality tests carried out in the main drains
showed that at times the copper and phosphate content reached 0.05mg/l and 11mg/l
respectively. These reading thus exceeded the permissible limits and the water quality in
the drains were then classified under class IV or V. Thus the drainage water is unsuitable for
recycling since we need at least class III water for irrigation.

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3.2 Water Resource Management

To improve water resource management and optimization, various tools are used.

3.2.1 Water Resource Management System

At the river basin level, there is a need to balance the total water demand with the available
stream flow in Muda River plus other supplementary supply like dam releases. To facilitate
water resource management effectively, a computer application is used.

Data input are:

o Real time hydrological data like water level, flow rates and rainfall at key stations
o Daily water requests and actual pumping rates by major users
o Dam releases or water recycling rates
o Weekly field presaturation and planting progress
o Feedbacks from major users about water adequacy

Standard data formats are given to major users and they are required to forward the data
to DID Penang daily or whenever there is a change in water requests or other feedbacks.
Everyday, the total water demand is compared with total water resources which consist mainly
of the base flow plus any dam supplements. Direct rainfall on irrigated areas is considered
which helps to supplement water supply to fulfill total water demand. The water balance is
monitored every few hours or whenever there is significant rainfall whereby the dam releases
will be adjusted accordingly. Please refer to Fig. 7 for a graph showing the balancing of total
water demand with total water resources. Fig. 8 shows the actual pumping by each major
user as compared to their water demands.

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Fig. 7 – Balancing of Base Flow Plus Dam Release With Total Demand

Fig. 8 – Actual Pumping Of Major Users vs. Total Demand

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4.0 Future Outlook of Drought Management

Since drought frequency is increasing, there is growing need to improve drought management
and mitigation so as to reduce the social and economic impacts. The following action plans
are considered important:

4.1 Development of Drought Policy and Plans to guide drought Management and Mitigation

4.2 Legislative and Institutional Changes

a) Legislative and Institutional changes are required to address the issues of water
resource development and management which are currently managed by a number
of different agencies with limited coordination and effectiveness.

b) Establishment of single body to manage water resource in each river basin to address
the issue of equitable supply and conflict resolution among states, sectors and users.

c) Ensure suitable quality of fresh water for the utilization of various sectors in a sustainable
manner.

4.3 Upgrading of drought monitoring and forecasting tools and drought early warning
system.

(a) Establish adequate telemetric hydrological and meteorological networks to enable

accurate assessment of water resources and water demands.

(b) Improve the Online Drought Monitoring System (ODMS) where monitoring of water
resources will be based on adequate network of hydrological stations for each river
basin so that drought monitoring can be more accurately carried out for each river
basin. The drought forecasting module should also be developed.

(c) Improve application of drought monitoring indices such as LTM and SPI.

4.4 Promote and enhance drought preparedness and risk management

(a) Appoint an Interagency task force for drought management and mitigation

(b) The need to establish standard operation procedure for drought management at
national and state level so as to improve drought preparedness and risk management.

(c) To provide awareness programs to stakeholders on drought preparedness

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4.5 To provide effective and efficient water resource management

a) The current Water Resource Management System should be upgraded to provide a

more effective and efficient management of the water resources in the basin especially
during droughts. The system should enable online facilities for communication and
analysis of relevant data. A module for rainfall and stream flow forecast should also
be included to facilitate water balance at basin level. Post drought audit and assessment
modules should be developed to help in the evaluation of drought impacts.

b) Capacity building of human resources involved

5.0 Conclusion

Severity and frequency of droughts and water stress situations are increasing ever probably
due to growing water demand and also climatic changes.In order toreduce social and
economic impacts to the stakeholders during droughts, adequate efforts and resources must
be channeled to develop and implement a proper drought management and mitigation plan
for each river basin. With proper drought preparedness, drought management plans and
mitigation measures, the hardships and negative impacts to be faced by the stakeholders can
be minimized.

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