Quenching growing need for water in rural areas

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An aerial view of Batang Sadong.

An aerial view of Batang Sadong.

PROVIDING potable water to the communities in a huge state like Sarawak, especially in the rural areas, is an arduous task.

Even where water is available, conveying the essential resource to sparsely populated communities in the remote areas becomes an issue as it’s not only expensive but also difficult.

Although unsafe water sources have accounted for preventable diseases in rural communities in many countries, such a scenario has hardly been reported in Sarawak. The most common problem the majority of the local rural population faces is inadequate or interrupted water supply during the dry season.

The state government is aware of the situation and has set up the Jabatan Bekalan Air Luar Bandar (Rural Water Supply Department or JBALB) to ensure reliable water supply to the rural areas. This new department, officially launched after the last state election, is under the Public Utilities Ministry.

The department has been tasked, among others, with undertaking the enormous responsibility of meeting the rural communities’ growing needs for water. Deforestation seems to have pushed the state’s most precious natural resource to the brink.

Assistant Minister for Public Utilities (Water Supply) Datuk Roland Sagah Wee Inn told thesundaypost they were facing a difficult task, given the increasingly challenging management of water supply and rising demands for potable water in the rural areas.

As bodies of water, stressed by human consumption and forest clearing, are disappearing quicker than ever imagined, Sagah acknowledged that sustainability was a big challenge to overcome.

“We have to move towards sustainability to ensure not only industries and urban households but also the rural communities have adequate water supply. Moreover, we’re also creating public awareness of the efficient handling of water use in every sector,” he said.

He pointed out that the department is now at the stage of identifying and rectifying the various existing water sources or treatment plants, especially those that were formerly under the purview of Public Works Department (JKR) in every district, adding that special attention would be given to areas constantly facing inadequate and interrupted water supply such as in Serian and Bau districts.

Sagah acknowledged the people in Serian used to complain of insufficient and interrupted water supply, assuring that the root causes had been identified with many already rectified.

The population of Serian is relying on the two fully operational water treatment plants (WTP) in Slabi, which process a total of 60 million litres daily (MLD).  Each plant has its own water intake. Even so, certain areas occasionally do not get to enjoy sustained treated water supply.

Sagah said the water issue in Serian was mostly a localised problem, caused by faulty connection.

“In fact, we have more than sufficient supply at the source. Leakage is the main problem, disrupting supply in certain areas within the District.”

Briefing in progress.

Briefing in progress.

Weaknesses identified

He revealed weaknesses had been identified in a few places, especially along the main pipeline between Stabun and Baki, which sometimes affected the people in Taee.

He said frequent water interruption occurred because of pipeline dislocations at several locations due to unstable ground along the pipeline.

These frequent dislocations, he said, were caused by earth movement as some stretches of the pipelines are located too near the edge of earth drains.

“When there is leakage, it affects the water pressure. And because there were several dislocations and these mishaps happened over a few days, it took some time for the water supply to return to normal,” he said.

“Detection of leakage itself will take some time. Although you may see wet ground here and yet, the leakage is actually somewhere else. So, it’s difficult to trace the exact leaking point on underground pipe before you dig out the earth.”

Sagah explained that as fixing the leakage required cutting the pipeline and pumping out the air or pressure from within the main line, sometimes the affected areas may have to bear with dry taps for a whole day.

He, however, said JBALB would immediately identify and repair these dislocations as soon as they were identified.

As some of the main pipelines needed to be replaced, funds were now being source to plug the leakage or dislocation problem, he said, adding that except for long droughts, the Slabi water treatment plant was able to supply Serian and Gedong.

According to him, on ordinary — or rainy — days – a combined production of 52 MLD is sufficient to cater for the existing consumers in Serian Town and nearby areas.

However, during drought, the water level of the raw water reservoir supplying raw water to Simunjan WTP dropped too law for the Simunjan WTP to operate. When this situation occurs, the Serian WTPs are required to produce a total of 57 MLD to cater for Simunjan’s treated water demand in addition to its normal demand.

“For now, the supply at the water intake for Serian and Gedong is enough unless the areas experience a long drought whereby the water levels could be affected at both the supply sources, including the one at Batang Sadong.

In such an event, we cannot pump the water to full capacity because the water might then be muddy.”

He said immediate improvement works to the raw water pumping mains have also been carried out to increase raw water pumping rate during low water level at the intake.

Sagah, who is also Tarat assemblyman, revealed there were plans to increase treated water production in Serian, especially with the population growth.

He said the state government has submitted the proposal to expand the plant by another 50 MLD in the 11th Malaysia Plan to the federal government  for consideration.

Other projects approved by the government for Serian District included the Mentong Merau/Mongkos  rural water supply and feasibility study for the proposed development of raw water source for Samarahan (including Serian) Division, balancing tank at Panchor Dayak, Serian and integrated water supply master plan for Samarahan (including Serian) Division.

Sagah said JBALB is also looking into a pipeline renewal programme for Serian.

Initially, the Slabi Water Treatment Plant was said to have been built mainly for consumers in Serian District but since the people of Simunjan, especially in Gedong, are without any treated water, they have been getting their supply from the same source.

Sagah (left) and Rundi at the Slabi treatment plant in Serian.

Sagah (left) and Rundi at the Slabi treatment plant in Serian.

Extending supply coverage

Sagah disclosed several other projects had also been given the nod by the federal Rural and Regional Ministry to improve water supply in the parts of the state, especially those areas that were formerly under JKR.

They are part of the state’s initiatives under the Rural Water Supply Programme.

“The programme is on-going as the state government continues to extend water supply coverage to the rural population. Reservoirs, booster stations and extension of water mains to the rural communities and longhouses from the nearest water supply systems will also be built.”

He pointed out that where it was not economical to connect isolated and remote areas to the main plant, alternative systems of safe water supply would be implemented.

For the time being, existing gravity feed systems would continue to be important means of water supply in the remote areas until such time when piped treated water could be provided, noting that the use of new technologies and new types of water treatment chemicals for better economy and efficiency in water treatment and distribution in the rural areas would be given due emphasis as well.

“Hopefully with all these in place, the gravity feed will be a thing of the past. Not that the gravity feed is not good but the water source might be polluted because of development that may be taking in the area.”

Although the immediate task is to deliver safe water to the rural areas, Sagah assured the urban population would not be neglected.

“Our ministry will continue providing reliable and adequate supply to urbanites and improving our operational efficiency.”

Need for balance

Meanwhile, the development of raw water sources and the construction of new river storage dams will have to continue since the yield of existing river sources may become inadequate. The capacities of existing water supply facilities may have to be increased as well by building new plants and upgrading existing ones.

“Our ministry will also recommend to the relevant department to gazette every water catchment area so that development activities within these areas will be effectively controlled. There’s a need to balance the conservation of water areas and land development activities,” Sagah noted.

He stressed controlled-agriculture activities within the water catchment areas were critical, given that water woes in the State were often caused by drying rivers.

“Educating the people to carry out controlled-agriculture activities itself is a challenge. Uncontrolled clearing of jungles by private firms or individuals within the catchment areas can cause water losses as well as raw water pollution. Therefore, we need to come up with proper guidelines for development activities within the catchment areas.”

Sagah said to just convince people gazettement was not an acquisition was in itself an uphill task, lamenting that people always had the wrong impression the government wanted to grab their land whenever it gazetted an area.

“Controlled development is very important in any gazetted water catchment area since under any hydrological and ecological circumstance, forest is the best land cover to maximise water yield, regulate sustainable flows and ensure high water quality,” he added.

(From second left) Public Utilities Minister Datuk Dr Stephen Rundi Utom, Sagah and Bukit Semuja assemblyman John Ilus (behind Rundi) with officials from JBALB during a site visit to Slabi Water Treatment Plant. Serian Resident Dahim Nadot is behind Sagah.

(From second left) Public Utilities Minister Datuk Dr Stephen Rundi Utom, Sagah and Bukit Semuja assemblyman John Ilus (behind Rundi) with officials from JBALB during a site visit to Slabi Water Treatment Plant. Serian Resident Dahim Nadot is behind Sagah.