Water Department keeping tabs on Sulaman Sentral supply
Published on: Wed, Apr 16, 2025
By: Sidney Skinner Text Size: The Department's technicians look on as an excavator digs down to the leaking pipe in the Bakut area of Tuaran. THE Water Department is keeping tabs on the goings-on at Sulaman Sentral, following feedback about the dry taps and poor quality of the supply at the Manggatal commercial centre. Several proprietors lamented the water loss they had experienced on and off late last week, saying that this made it exceedingly difficult for them to run their businesses. Some noticed that the supply was murky and had an 'odd smell' when it did return. A few of these consumers said the odour reminded them of water which had been trapped underground for a long time. Others said the supply smelt 'like rust'. Each of these unit-owners expressed their concern about the negative impact which the unclean supply was likely to have on their well-being, as well as those of their staff and customers. These individuals provided Hotline with the pertinent details, including their addresses, which were forwarded to the agency. A Department spokesman said a damaged distribution mains about five kilometres away from Tuaran town was to blame for the supply woes at Sulaman Sentral, with an underground pipe found leaking on Monday afternoon. 'The Mid-Steel-Cement-Lined (MSCL) mains, with a 1,000 millimetre diameter, looked as if had become 'uzur (worn down)',' he said. He said the agency's technicians began attending to the pipe in the Bakut area at 1.30pm on Monday. This work was complicated because the affected part of the supply-line was buried more than 10 metres beneath the road shoulder, according to him. He said an excavator was deployed to facilitate efforts to reach and seal the leak. He said the operations at its Telibong II Treatment Plant had to be temporarily shutdown to accommodate the repairs which as of press time on Tuesday were still on-going. A total of 96 million litres of treated water was produced daily at the Plant under normal circumstances, according to him. The Department issued a notice on Monday at 1.00pm, which was circulated over social media, to alert consumers in parts of Tuaran and the State Capital about the loss of their tap water. Besides Sulaman Sentral, the latter included those at the Fire and Rescue Services Department Housing Complex, Nexus Karambunai, the Mara Vocational Institute, the Industrial Training Institute, the Mara Skills Institute, the Polytechnic, Universiti Teknologi Mara, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park, the Royal Malaysian Naval Base and Sepanggar Port. Among the rural communities which have been feeling the pinch were those in Kg Lokub, Kg Unggun Jaya, Kg Gentisan and Kg Likas. Unit-owners at Taman Cerah, Taman Sepanggar, Karambunai Villa, Universiti Apartment 1 (UA1), Universiti Prime Condo (UPC), Kingfisher Inanam, Karambunai Villa, Malawa Ria Apartments, Rimbunan Hijau Residences, Unggun Jaya and Indah Permai were also not spared. The spokesman said a water-stabilisation exercise would be carried out in Sulaman Sentral to try and improve the supply to the commercial centre, once the repairs on the leaking pipe had been completed. On the poor quality of the supply to the property, he said the agency had the mains, leading to Sulaman Sentral, flushed last week, prior to the discovery of the burst. 'This was done to minimise the presence of sediment in the water coming from taps at the commercial centre,' he said. 'Our personnel checked on the condition of the supply reaching Sulaman Sentral, after the flushing was carried out, and found that it was not murky.' On top of this, they confirmed that there was no unpleasant smell coming from the water, according to him. Nevertheless, the spokesman said, the Department would make regular checks of the supply, channelled to the commercial property, going forward to ensure that everything was in order. * Follow us on Instagram and join our Telegram and/or WhatsApp channel(s) for the latest news you don't want to miss. * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available.
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