Dr Rundi (left) turns the tap on to mark the launch of the district-level ‘World Water Day’ at JBALB Sibu office, as (from right) Dr Annuar, Dr Abdul Rahman and Alice look on.
SIBU: The townsfolk are reminded to be prudent when it comes to water usage.
According to Public Utilities Minister Dato Sri Dr Stephen Rundi, the conservation of water is a collective responsibility.
“This is to ensure that we have sufficient supply of water to meet the demands of the consumers in both the urban and rural areas,” he told reporters after officiating at the launch of district-level ‘World Water Day’ at the Rural Water Supply Department (JBALB) office here yesterday.
Earlier in his remarks, Dr Rundi told water authorities in the state to focus on non-revenue water (NRW) towards reducing water wastage.
He noted that the Kuching Water Board had recorded 30 per cent in NRW, while the Northern Region Water Board (Laku) recorded 20 per cent.
On JBALB, he said the department had identified six areas slated for the implementation of Sarawak Alternative Water Supply (Sawas) project.
Without naming these areas, he said JBALB would build standalone treatment plants that only needed small power and capacity to meet the requirements by certain number of longhouses and villages.
“We’ve found out that it is not easy to go all the way to the interior (areas) – that’s why we have Sawas to achieve JBALB’s target of having 100 per cent water supply coverage across the state by 2025.
“At the moment, the treated water supply coverage is 61 per cent. There is a lot of work to do towards achieving the 100 per cent by 2025,” he said.
Assistant Minister for Public Utilities (Electricity and Telecommunications) Dr Abdul Rahman Junaidi,
Assistant Minister for Science Research and Biotechnology Dr Annuar Rapaee, Ngemah assemblyman Alexander Vincent, Sibu Municipal Council chairman Datuk Tiong Thai King, Public Utilities Ministry permanent secretary Datuk Alice Jawan and JBALB director Daniel Wong Park Ing were also present at the event.