KUCHING: While consumers have been repeatedly advised and reminded to save water, at least 2,880 gallons of it are being wasted daily at Lorong Foochow 1V here.
A WASTE OF RESOURCES: The water leakage at Lorong Foochow 1V.
A resident living nearby claimed that water, believed to be from a fire hydrant in the vicinity, have been gushing non-stop into the monsoon drain for the past couple of months.
The resident, a pensioner who declined to be named, told The Borneo Post yesterday that he first noticed the water spillage about four or five months ago.
“I was jogging in the area one fine morning when suddenly I heard a water splashing sound. Out of curiosity I went over to take a look and was shocked to see huge amount of water gushing into the monsoon drain.
“Concerned with the water wastage, I took the trouble to inform the Kuching Water Board (KWB), hoping that the authority will take the appropriate action promptly but unfortunately until today nothing has been done about it,” he lamented.
The pensioner claimed that he had thus far alerted KWB no less than four times since then but of no avail.
KWB, when contacted yesterday, clarified that underground leakages formed a major component of its non-revenue water, accounting for about 30 per cent of its over 400 mega liters of daily water production.
Its spokesperson admitted that underground leakage had given “some headache” to the water authority because not all of them could be traced or noticed.
He explained that even if the fault was identified it may not be easy for them to mend the problem as a lot of things had to be looked into.
“There are times when corrective measures could not be taken immediately. For instance, if the service line runs along or crosses the road. To do the repair work often requires the road to be dissected and this will cause obstruction to road users, and this is again another problem,” he explained.
He, however, gave an assurance that leakages which caused a serious drop in water pressure would be given immediate attention.
On the leak at Lorong Foochow 1V, he confirmed that it was from an unused common pipe and that the repair work was postponed due to the unavailability of certain materials needed for the repair then.
He said as the leakage was right at the narrow but busy Jalan Foochow, and to allow the Kuching City South Council (MBKS) to reinstate the road, KWB planned to do the repair on Monday.