This is one of a series of pages on walking the hills of Penang, click here
for the index. There is a map at the bottom of the page.
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:
March 2024
Revised advice about access to the Fettes Aqueducts (10th
March 2024)
January 2024
I have added a picture taken at Teluk Bahang Dam (27th
January 2024)
January 2023
I have added a couple of pictures taken at Sungai
Pinang Water Treatment Works (11th
January 2023)
January 2020
A typical pair has appeared next to the car park at the
Air Itam Dam, they have no number on them. Thanks to Peter van der Lans
for the tip off. The modern one is powered off the mains supply as
opposed to the usual battery. I now understand that most PBA installations
now have (unnumbered) rain gauges of the non-traditional design.
Necessarily these are not accessible on a casual basis.

July 2019 / January 2020 / February 2020 / August 2020 / September 2020 Update
Following the Great Storm of November 2017, the PBA seems to have
instigated a programme to reactivate and upgrade rain gauges. This
particularly affects the low number (1-10) first generation rain gauges.
Peter van der Lans has told me that RG 2, 3, 4, 9 and 10 now have second
generation rain gauges, from my own observations RG 6 and 7 also. I assume
that 5 and 8 will have had the same treatment but I cannot confirm
it. RG 5 is known to still be on Western Hill inside the secure area, I
assume it would have fallen out of use like the others in the area but
will also have been upgraded.
Peter tells me that the RG 20 'box' was empty in January 2020, I
believe the accessible RG 16 is working but I have no recent information
on RG 17-19 in the same area.
Of the four 'Laksamana RG (11 - 14), I found 13 to be an empty box and
14 without a battery in February 2020. Given that 11 was long abandoned
and never modernised and 12 is even more inaccessible, I doubt they have
been revived. By August 2020, 11, 12 and 14 had been revived but 13 was
still out of use (Source, Peter van der Lans).
Those Teluk
Bahang RG I have seen (21, 22, 23, 25, 26 and 27) in the last year appeared serviceable.
The Air Itam Dam rain gauges (28 - 35) seem to be in use.
In other words there is a limit to their enthusiasm and they
prioritised those which are in the public eye, those that are easy to read
and those that relate to the dams at Air Itam and Teluk Bahang.
The locations of RG 1 and RG 5 have been confirmed, neither is
accessible to a casual visitor, locations are below (13th September 2020).
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 which
mainly runs through
neighbouring Kedah but at its lowest end forms the border with Penang - from
where the water is taken. 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.
They are also responsible for maintaining the integrity of water
catchment areas, hikers will be familiar with their (often decaying) warning
notices which are to be found mainly in the upland areas of the north of the
island. Associated with this is the maintenance of a collection of rain
gauges (RG) which are for the most part positioned at higher points in the
principal catchment areas. Many of the ridge paths and others used by hikers
were established to service them and a number of these gauges were
historically
noted in passing in my hike reports. RG 1 to 11 are well out of use, usually left
as historical curiosities, others (RG 12 to 35) have
been replaced with modern electronic logging equipment which needs visiting
once a month or so to retrieve data. However, in many cases these too
are now disused as the kit has proved unreliable in Penang's climate. Most are on quite well used paths but
in some cases paths which would otherwise see almost no use have had to be
kept open at least in part. PBA has a master list, but to date, I
have been unable to access it; I have though seen a map of unknown vintage
(marked 'uncontrolled') which shows
approximate locations. It correlates well with the gauges I have visited except for
RG 9 which is plain wrong although some are definitely slightly misplaced (eg
RG 22 and 23 which are actually higher up towards Bukit Laksamana). I now
know that RG 7 is also misplaced.
Helpfully, each bears a
number and as most are grouped logically by area it was possible to
anticipate where missing ones might be found. The list below shows known
locations and the original source of my information (GM = Guillaume Martin,
LM = 'Larry Malay', PL = Peter van der Lans). Click the links for each number for my report on visiting them, almost complete as of March 2016.
I should add that previously about 10 of them were also reported in Forest
Ang's "Selected Nature Trails of Penang Island" book.
It's been a real pleasure 'collecting' the rain gauges, in several cases
it has brought me to areas where I had not thought to hike before. Almost
all lie on 'jungle' paths and as such it is very much hiking without a view
compared our more familiar areas in the south of the island.
RG |
Reported by |
Catchment Area |
|
1 |
Anon |
Waterfall |
Beside the reservoir in the Botanic Gardens, 5°26'24.79"N, 100°17'6.43"E. |
2 |
GM |
" |
Above the Botanic Gardens, near the waterfall |
3 |
GM |
" |
Above the Botanic Gardens on the path to Western Hill / former Crag
Hotel |
4 |
GM |
" |
Above the Botanic Gardens on the path to Western Hill / former Crag
Hotel, above RG 3 |
5 |
Anon |
" |
On Western Hill inside the current security area, 5°25'36.89"N, 100°15'5.76"E |
6 |
GM |
" |
On Summit Road between Bukit Bendera and Tiger Hill. |
7 |
PL |
" |
Off Summit
Road near Tiger Hill. |
8 |
RD |
" |
Next to Richmond Bungalow on the main part of Penang Hill |
9 |
GM |
" |
Above the Botanic Gardens on the path to Western Hill / former Crag
Hotel, above RG 4. Incorrectly marked on the PBA map. |
10 |
GM |
" |
On Bukit Cendana |
11 |
GM |
Batu Ferringhi |
East of Bukit Laksamana on the Teluk Bahang to Western Hill path,
below 12 (abandoned) |
12 |
GM |
" |
East of Bukit Laksamana on the Teluk Bahang to Western Hill path just
below the summit. |
13 |
GM |
" |
North of Bukit Laksamana on the Teluk Bahang to Western Hill path,
above 14 |
14 |
GM |
" |
North of Bukit Laksamana on the Teluk Bahang to Western Hill path |
15 |
GM |
" |
On the path from the Batu Ferringhi Dam towards Bukit Laksamana, below RG 21 |
16 |
LM |
" |
Near the point where the two halves of the aqueduct join above Batu Ferringhi |
17 |
GM/LM |
" |
On the eastern path from the lower end of the upper Fettes aqueduct to Western
Hill, Bukit Cempedak |
18 |
GM/LM |
" |
On the eastern path from the lower end of the upper Fettes aqueduct to Western
Hill, above RG 17 |
19 |
GM/LM |
" |
On the eastern path from the lower end of the upper Fettes aqueduct to Western
Hill, above RG 18 |
20 |
GM |
" |
On the western path from the upper end of the upper Fettes aqueduct to Western
Hill |
21 |
GM |
Teluk Bahang |
On the path from the Batu Ferringhi Dam towards Bukit Laksamana, above RG 15 and below RG 14 |
22 |
PL |
" |
Below Bukit Laksamana on the trail to / from the Tropical Fruit Farm |
23 |
PL |
" |
Below Bukit Laksamana on the trail to / from the Tropical Fruit Farm,
below RG 22 |
24 |
RD |
" |
On a hill above Pantai Acheh village, south of RG 25 |
25 |
RD |
" |
Between RG 24
and RG 26, at the south end of the ridge path down from Bukit Batu Itam |
26 |
GM |
" |
At the summit of Bukit Batu Itam west of Teluk Bahang Dam, south of RG 27 |
27 |
GM |
" |
On the path from the United Hokkien Cemetery, Teluk Bahang to Bukit Batu Itam west of Teluk Bahang Dam |
28 |
GM |
Air Itam Dam |
On the path from Air Itam Dam to Tiger Hill Ridge, below RG 29 (moved
some way downhill in 2017) |
29 |
GM |
" |
On Tiger Hill Ridge, above RG 28 (moved
1km south along the ridge in 2017) |
30 |
RD |
" |
On Tiger Hill Ridge, above the path near the 5 way junction |
31 |
PL |
" |
On Bukit Elvira between the two easterly peaks (moved
south, now at 5°23'30.62"N,100°14'31.17"E) |
32 |
PL |
" |
At a farm above the Bao Tian Gong temple, just below the forest
edge on the south side of Bukit Elvira (moved
to the access road below the farm, 5°22'54.43"N,100°14'42.72"E) |
33 |
RD |
" |
Next to the road to the Bukit Penara masts above 34. |
34 |
RD |
" |
Off the road to the Bukit Penara masts, just before the path to
the 1200 Step temple. |
35 |
RD |
" |
Next to the road west from Air Itam Dam to the '5 way junction' on
Tiger Hill Ridge |
? |
RD |
Batu Ferringhi |
Railings only on Carla's Peak above Mount Pleasure Resort, between
Tanjung Bunga and Batu Ferringhi, possibly the missing RG 1 but
unlikely as I believe this to be the one at the Air Itam Reservoir.
This will have served the Sungai Siru catchment area. |
Unnumbered |
|
|
Not shown on the PBA map, in a secure area at the Air Itam
Reservoir. |
The map shows the approximate locations of those RG I
have visited together with my estimation of the various catchment areas.
According to the web there are 8 gazetted water catchment areas but I have
not been able to find details. Since first drawing the map, blue signs
have started to appear on the hills, which name the catchment area
concerned, I have made additions to the map below as a result. It is still
incomplete, the area to the west of the Batu Ferringhi dam has signs for 'Anak
Sungai 3V Side Stream'. I believe there will be other (small) catchment
areas on the main hill above the Air Itam Dam.
I am far from convinced by some of the signs, for instance 'Sungai Kelian'
is rendered as 'Sungai Klean' which perpetuates a mistake on a PBA map.
The sign which bears 'Sungai Tengah' should, I believe read 'Sungai Kecil'.
As for the signs that read 'Gilemard', words just fail me. On older maps,
the area around what I call the Laksamana stream above Titi Kerawang was
known as the Laksamana Catchment Area, but I have yet to see any blue
signs there because I have not visited since they were erected.
WF = Waterfall
TB = Teluk Bahang
AI = Air Itam
BF A = Batu Ferringhi, upper aqueduct
BF B = Batu Ferringhi, lower aqueduct
SP = Sungai Pinang
SKl = Sungai Kelian
SS = Sungai Siru
SK = Sungai Kecil
AST = Anak Sungai Tat
I have not included paths but these will be shown at the bottom of the
reports linked above. I have not added the RGs to those maps as not
everyone will be interested. Note that this is still my original map and
some have moved but it would hardly show at this scale.
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