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Daily Express
2 days ago
- General
- Daily Express
Scheme to boost water pressure in Penampang: Water Department
Published on: Friday, June 13, 2025 Published on: Fri, Jun 13, 2025 By: Sidney Skinner Text Size: A new valve was put in place. THE Water Department hopes to boost the pressure of the main incoming supply to Country Heights Apartments, in Penampang, once it launches its new Emergency Water Supply Scheme (EWSS) plant in Kasigui at the end of the month. Operations at the facility are tentatively due to get underway from June 22, giving the agency access to between three to five million litres of treated water daily (MLD). Advertisement This is on top of the 55 MLD which is produced, under normal circumstances, at the existing Kasigui treatment plant. A Department spokesman said the administration was aware that the strength of the supply reaching the bulk meter for the Apartments was not what it should be. 'The pressure is particularly low at night,' he said. 'After 10pm, water from this part of the district is pushed to Putatan.' He said the supply was re-directed back to Country Heights around 5am. The pressure problem at the Apartments was partly aggravated by the hilly terrain on which the residential property was built, according to him. 'When the volume of water at our R6B reservoir, overlooking Donggongon, falls below a certain level, it can affect the strength of the supply channelled to Country Heights. This most recently happened in the second half of May.' The spokesman said the Department was optimistic about the additional resources from the EWSS plant helping it to mitigate the water problems at the residential property. 'We intend to carry out a stabilisation exercise early next month to try and improve the situation at the Apartments.' He was responding to feedback about the intermittent supply which consumers at Country Heights had been experiencing since April. WILLA, who occupies a ground floor unit, said she frequently lost her tapwater in the early morning. 'When the supply comes back in the late afternoon, it has a murky quality,' she said. 'Occasionally, the water will change colour and become completely white.' She hoped the Department would intervene to put an end to these irregularities, for the benefit of the 6,000 occupants staying on the property. Her grievance was forwarded to the agency. The spokesman said its technicians went to the Apartments, shortly after being contacted by the media. They noted that water was reaching the bulk-meter and entering the ground tanks, according to him. 'The pressure of the supply, at the time, was observed to be low,' he said. 'Our personnel checked on the condition of the distribution mains leading to the meter and found that some of the fixtures were faulty. A strainer and valve was subsequently replaced.' He said the strength of the water entering the tanks improved slightly after these changes were made. Given this turn of events, he said, the agency's staff had been asked to check on the water situation at Country Heights from time to time. A spokesman for the Apartments' management company said the property had periodically lost its main incoming supply between 10pm and 6am since April. 'Even when the supply did not disappear, the pressure was very low,' he said. 'It was only about five to 10 per cent of what it should be.' 'Owing to this, there was not enough water in our ground tanks for us to give our tenants a supply the following morning.' He said the firm generally released water for a few hours twice a day – once in the morning and then at night. 'The management has had to control the flow of water from our elevated and ground tanks to our tenants. If the supply is not controlled, then those living on the upper floors would have no chance of getting any water at all.' The spokesman said this task had become exceedingly difficult since April 17, when there had intermittently been 'zero' input to the tanks for Country Heights at night. He said multiple calls had been made to the Department's Careline since then about these water woes. Two letters were also despatched to the agency, according to him, the first on May 13, the second on June 6. 'We are still waiting to receive an official response to our correspondence.' * 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. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia
Daily Express
21-04-2025
- General
- Daily Express
Water Department keeping tabs on Sulaman Sentral supply
Published on: Wednesday, April 16, 2025 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. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia
