KOTA KINABALU – Sabah is amassing its water reserves as the state readies for an extended dry period in coming months.
Sabah Deputy Chief Minister III Datuk Shahelmey Yahya said the water level at Babagon Dam in Penampang is now optimum, while water is currently being stocked up at the Tuaran and Sandakan water reserves facilities respectively.
“The water reserve in Babagon will be able to sustain up to three months, while we are storing up water at the Telibong reservoir (Tuaran) to a safe level at present.
“I was also in Segaliud (Sandakan) yesterday and water is now being pumped from the rivers to fill up our reservoirs.
“We are grateful that over the past 10 days, the river level is higher than the sea level. So we are not facing any saline intrusion anymore.
“We hope we can get to a safe water level to go through this hot season,” he told reporters during his visit to the Telibong water treatment plant in Tuaran here today.
Water rationing has been practised in many urban areas, including Kota Kinabalu since water supply issues emerged in 2020.
Residents in Sandakan in the meantime are suffering from saline intrusion into their water supply.
Shahelmey said repairs on the damaged river lock in Sandakan have been completed and assured that saline intrusion is no longer happening.
However, he said the Sandakan water reserves remain salty as barely any fresh water has been introduced to neutralise the salinity due to ongoing dry weather conditions.
In another development, Shahelmey has set August as a new date for the second Telibong water treatment plant in Tamparuli to be able to commence production of treated water.
While the treatment was due to produce water by June, Shahelmy pointed out that the delay had largely been caused by technical and mechanical problems.
He noted that the plant would be able to produce initially around 25% to 30% of its full capacity when it is fully completed.
The new treatment plant’s full capacity stands at 80 million litres per day (MLD).
At the same time, he said works at the first Telibong water treatment plant for the Urgent Water Supply Scheme (UWSS) project have been completed, but are now undergoing testing and commissioning.
Shahelmey said UWSS would add an additional 10 MLD, and the completion of the second Telibong plant would bring about an additional 20-30 MLD to the current total treated water supply distribution.
He said the additional water supply would benefit users in Tuaran, Kota Kinabalu, Putatan, and Penampang.
Shahelmey also said prepaid or bulk metre systems are being considered to solve the water theft water issue in Sabah, while sensors installed inside the pipelines to detect leakage and at the same time cut non-revenue water. – The Vibes, May 16, 2023
