Dry taps, murky water in parts of Manggatal: Consumers rely on bottled water, some stay in hotels
Published on: Tue, Jul 29, 2025
By: Sidney Skinner Text Size: The Department's technicians put their backs into installing the sluice valve along Jalan KKIP Selatan. THE Water Department is keeping tabs on the goings-on in Kg Tebobon and Taman Salut Perdana, following feedback about dry taps and the poor quality of the supply in these different parts of Manggatal. A consumer, living in the village, claimed to have gone without water for more than eight days. He and his neighbours had been relying on bottled water just to get by, even before the disruption, owing to the murky quality of their supply. The tap water, at that time, reminded him of a cup of 'Milo O (plain Milo)'. The homeowner, on the other hand, claimed that, since Friday, only the sound of air rushing through the pipes could be heard when she turned on her taps. She was forced to put up in a hotel in the town, just so that she and her family, including her primary-aged kids, could use the toilet and shower. The affected individuals provided Hotline with the pertinent details regarding their grievances. This information was forwarded to the agency. A Department spokesman said a damaged main distribution pipe was to blame for the water woes in Kg Tebobon. 'The Mid-Steel-Cement-Lined (MSCL) mains, with a 1,200millimetre diameter, looked as if had become 'uzur (worn down)',' he said. 'The pipe was most likely laid beneath the verge years ago.' He said the agency's technicians began attending to the pipe at the base of the Telipok flyover at 9.00pm on Thursday. This work was complicated because 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, repair and weld the affected section of the pipe. He said the operations at its Telibong II Treatment Plant had to be temporarily shutdown to accommodate the repairs which were completed in the wee hours of Friday. A total of 96million litres of treated water was produced daily at the Plant under normal circumstances, according to him. The Department issued a notice on Thursday at 1.00pm, which was circulated over social media, to alert consumers in parts of Manggatal and Inanam about the loss of their tap water. Besides Kg Tebobon, the other rural communities which felt the pinch included Kg Gudon, Kg Rampayan, Kg Darau, Kg Warisan and Kg Kalansanan. Unit-owners at Taman Flamingo, Taman Gudon, Taman Puri Warisan, Taman Bakti Ikhlas and Taman Inanam Laut were also not spared. On the poor quality of the supply to the village, he said the agency would arrange to have the mains, servicing the rural community there, flushed. 'This will be done to minimise the presence of sediment in the water coming from taps at homes here.' Where Taman Salut Perdana was concerned, the spokesman said were triggered when the agency switched the supply for Manggatal and Inanam from its Moyog Water Treatment Plant, according to him. 'Since the second week of July, we stopped the direct tapping from Moyog and began using a new line from Phase II of our Telibong Plant. 'Some unforeseen teething problems have arisen because of this switch.' He said the agency was in the midst of testing the new connection. 'A sluice valve was installed along Jalan KKIP Selatan on Friday, near the junction leading to the Kota Kinabalu Polytechnic to resolve the teething problems in Taman Salut Perdana.' A notice about this work was issued over social media at 10.00pm the night before, according to him. 'We wanted to forewarn the affected consumers to stock up water and to use their reserves sparingly for the duration of the installation effort.' On top of Taman Salut homeowners, these included those living and working in the KKIP North, the Kota Kinabalu Polytechnic, the Polytechnic Commercial Centre, Taman Bukit Sepanggar, Taman Melawa, Taman Sri Gayang, Sri Gayang Apartments, Kg Lapasan, the Intan Sabah Campus, Taman Indah Permai, Sri Maju Apartments and the Bukit Setia area. The spokesman said it generally took between two to three days for some consumers to recover properly from a disruption. He said this was especially so if their premises was located on higher ground or towards the end of the Department's distribution-line. 'Our technicians checked on the pipes leading to random meters around Kg Tebobon and Taman Salut Perdana yesterday, after learning what had been transpiring at both locations. 'They cleared any airlocks which had formed in the supply-line and confirmed that water was reaching the meters. 'The water pressure, in this instance, was deemed to be acceptable.' * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available.
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