MIRI – It is the fourth day with no treated piped water supply in most of Miri district. Some desperate residents are taking whatever clean water they can find from ponds, with some even bathing in drains.
Residents are posting and sharing pictures of the shocking scenes as more than 300,000 Miri residents continue to suffer.
“Warga Senadin mandi dan ambil air termasuk saya... (Senadin housing estate residents, including myself, bath and take water...),” said resident Amby Asie on social media.
The Miri Fire and Rescue Department is ferrying treated water from the Lambir Water Treatment Plant to selected locations to enable people to collect water.
The department has deployed fire engines to carry out the task.
State Utilities and Communications Minister Datuk Julaihi Narawai said in Kuching that he is hopeful treated water supply in Miri can be restored tomorrow.
“The teams from the water board in Miri are working round the clock to repair the burst pipeline.
“We truly regret the serious disruption affecting the people,” he told reporters.
Julaihi said the magnitude of the supply disruption was most unexpected.
The water supply disruption in Sarawak’s oil capital of Miri keeps worsening by the day, with more people suffering from dry taps for the fourth day running.
Former Miri mayor Datuk Lawrence Lai had yesterday called on the state authorities to bring in experts from outside Sarawak to repair the giant water pipeline that keeps bursting.
“It is clear that the technicians and contractors from the Miri branch of the Northern Sarawak Water Supply Board are having great difficulties in dealing with this burst water main pipeline.
“Call in experts from outside, perhaps the experts from Kuala Lumpur,” he said.
“There must be experts at the national level who have vast experience dealing with huge underground pipes since there are so many underground tunnels in KL.”
Lai, who is a lawyer, said Miri is running out of bottled drinking water already as supermarkets and shops are seeing a desperate rush by residents to snap up available water on sale.
Meanwhile, Miri Disaster Management Committee chairman Datuk Lee Kim Shin admitted that the Miri technicians repairing the burst pipeline are facing great problems.
“The pipe kept bursting yet again even after repair was completed,” he had said.
More than 300,000 people in at least 65,000 houses as well as hundreds of shops, offices and schools are still without water since 2am on Thursday.
The Northern Sarawak Water Supply Board had admitted that repair works have been difficult as the main supply pipeline had been badly damaged due to ground movements.
The board’s CEO Daniel Punang had said in a press statement that they are investigating what had triggered the earth movement that caused the damage.
Those in need of water are told to go to specific collection centres where water tankers are stationed, he said.
This latest mishap happened six days after another incident where the water pipeline was damaged due to construction works along the Miri to Bintulu Pan Borneo Highway.
Almost three quarters of the Miri district were reportedly affected.
The damage was said to be caused by road construction contractors carrying out upgrading works on the highway. – The Vibes, June 19, 2022
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