Did PBAPP make an all-in bet to restore water quickly?

 

From Loo Seng Piew

An all-in bet, in its original sense in the game of poker, states that a player cannot be forced to forfeit a poker hand if he or she does not have enough chips left to call a bet in the final wager.

In such a situation, the player can shove in all the chips he or she is left with, that is waging an all-in bet.

However, it is not like Hollywood because if the player wins, he or she cannot just immediately rake in all the chips on the table with both arms. The player is only eligible to take the portion of the pot up to the point of his or her final wager.

Also, an all-in bet is not necessarily a reckless, throw-all-caution-to-the-wind gamble because if the player knows that the opponent is bluffing, then with a stronger winning hand, he or she cannot possibly lose.

Did the Penang Water Supply Corporation (PBAPP) apply the above principle in the quick restoration of water supply to consumers?

It completed the twin pipe diversion works at Sungai Perai in the early hours of Jan 31.

Water to more than 200,000 consumers in Penang was interrupted at 11.30pm on Jan 30.

I woke up at 7.30am on Jan 31 in my house bordering George Town in the southwest district and when I turned on the kitchen tap, I was surprised there was already some water flowing.

When I turned on the tap again at 10.30am, I was even more surprised that the water flow was more or less at full strength.

I checked the news and learned that the reconnection work was completed about 12 hours ahead of schedule at 4.30am.

Still, I wondered why the water flow had recovered to full strength so quickly.

Then I remembered reading a Bernama news report quoting PBAPP CEO K Pathmanathan as saying that the Air Itam dam’s effective capacity had gone down to 33.7% as a result of the prevailing hot and dry weather conditions.

He was also quoted as saying: “We are also using the Air Itam dam to supply the island after the (earlier unscheduled water outage as a result of the) Sungai Perai incident (on Jan 23).”

But then, if PBAPP had been using the Air Itam dam to supply water after the said mishap in regard to the 1.35m-wide pipeline under Sungai Perai on Jan 23, then why did it take more than 24 hours for the water in my house to be restored at full strength in the said earlier unscheduled water outage but only about six hours in the scheduled water outage on Jan 31?

I figured out that it must have been because the Air Itam dam water, which normally only serves water consumers in the Air Itam area, was diverted to supply the rest of the island at a water pressure below its full strength during the previous water outage.

In such a situation, the further a customer is from the Air Itam dam water treatment plant, the longer it would take to have water at full strength.

As the endgame had not been reached yet, PBAPP could not throw all caution to the wind.

I am guessing that in the endgame of the Sungai Perai mishap, PBAPP had an almost certain winning hand to risk an all-in bet.

In other words, it was time for PBAPP to release treated water from the Air Itam dam at full strength.

After treated water flow from the mainland was returned to normal, the flow from the Air Itam dam could then be stopped. Following that, efforts would then be made to refill the dam.

If so, this well-calculated all-in endgame strategy has worked perfectly.

Whatever the case may be, I give a big thumbs up to PBAPP. - FMT

Loo Seng Piew is an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.