KOTA KINABALU: The Water Department will disconnect about 200 illegal installations that contribute to non-revenue water (NRW) in Kuala Penyu and Menumbok.
Water Department director Awang Mohd Tahir Mohd Talib told Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Azizah Mohd Dun and Kuala Penyu assemblyman Limus Jury in a briefing yesterday that the illegal connections were among the contributing factors to the water shortage in Kuala Penyu and Menumbok.
He said that studies undertaken have also shown that there were 535 legal direct connections to the transmission pipe and this also led to water shortage in the districts.
“We will be shifting the legal connections to the nearest reticulation system,” he said.
Additionally, efforts are also being undertaken to replace the pipes that have been installed since the 1960s and 1970s.
“The old pipes are causing water loss through leakages and are being replaced. The villages involved are Kg Melampai, Kg Merangkul, Kg Bukit Nuri, Kg Sinapukan and Menumbok,” he said.
He believed that water shortage issues affecting the areas in Kota Belud and Menumbok will finally be addressed once the factors identified in the study had been addressed.
During the briefing, Awang Mohd Tahir also said that another main contributing factor to water shortage in Menumbok, Kuala Penyu and Beaufort was because of the quality of the water at Sungai Padas.
He said that the water supplied to the districts was from Sungai Padas andthey have to close the water treatment plants when the condition of the water becomes very murky.
He added that this situation was quite common and it has resulted in the reduction of water supplied by the Membakut water plant from three million liters aday previously to only 0.8 million liters presently.
Villages affected by this include Kg Palu-Palu, Ilanun, Kitang, Purun, some parts of Kuala Penyu, Kebunau and Kiaru, he said.
The operations of the Limbawang and Membakut water treatment plants are also often affected during heavy rain due to the high mud content in the water.
Awang Mohd Tahir said that another factor contributing to the water shortage in Beaufort was because demand exceeded supply by 35 percent.
“The district has undergone tremendous development with the construction of houses and shops. Also the villages affected by the water shortage are located at the end of the transmission line in the supply of water in Beaufort,” he said.
Additionally, the size of the main pipe which was used since 1991 has a diameter of 100mm and not catered for such a huge demand, he said.
Among the long-term solutions identified to address the water shortage situation in Beaufort are the implementation of the water treatment plant in Beaufort and installation of pipe networks.
The project is scheduled to be completed in December and the components within it are a water treatment plant with the capacity of producing 30 million litres of water per day, the construction of four reservoirs with an additional 22 million litres of water, the upgrading of transmission pipes to nine tanks including the one at Kg Padas Damit and Kg Gerama and the upgrading of the pipe network at Beaufort, including Kg Padas Damit and Bintuka.
Another long-term solution is the Limbawang Beaufort plant which is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2018. The plant has the capacity to raise treated water production to 18 million litres per day.
The Menumbok Water Supply System is also being planned to address water shortage in Kuala Penyu, he said.
He then listed more than a dozen other proposed programmes and projects for water supply in Beaufort and Kuala Penyu during the 11th Malaysia Plan.
He added that it was imperative that the programmes and projects be implemented to ensure the efficient supply of water at the affected constituencies.
Also present at the briefing was Assistant Infrastructure Development Minister Datuk Bobbey Suan.