KOTA KINABALU – Thousands of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) students staying in residential colleges here have gone without a drop of pipe water for nearly a week.
This happens as Sepanggar – the sub-district where the public university is located – continues to be plagued by water shortages.
Students have to walk to a common water tank with pails to collect water and haul them back to their dorms.
For drinking water, they are given only two 1.5l bottles of mineral water a day.
Sepanggar has been troubled by water supply disruptions and rationing over the last three years.
According to students, the hiccups in water supply worsened since January 20, just two days before Chinese New Year, with supply affecting most of the students’ hostels.
The worst-hit segment is students from the Tun Pengiran Ahmad Raffae Residential College, located at the far end of the residential section on the campus.
It is UMS’ largest residential college, housing some 3,600 students from all over Malaysia at any one time.
Although treated water supply is being sent in by lorries to a common water tank, students told The Vibes on a visit there that this source of supply is not enough and that it only lasts for about an hour or two.
A student from Melaka who only wished to be known as Siti said she was recently forced to check into a hotel in town just to attend to her needs.
“Getting a ride to town has cost me RM28 a trip, while the hotel room costs me RM108 a night...plus, I have to do my laundry.
“Overall, I have to spend over RM200 just to get all of these things done.
“I was forced to do this again today, as we were informed there will be no water the whole day again,” said the first-year UMS student when met at the hostel today.
“Imagine, we had to do our laundry and shower. Even if there is water running through the taps, the water pressure is low, leaving only those staying on the ground floor getting water, while those living on the upper floors do not,” she added.
Her friend, Aminah, told The Vibes that she had to travel 2.1km by bus to the 1Borneo Hypermall just to fulfil her heavy toilet needs properly and perform her ablution for prayers.
“It’s a waste of time and money each time there is no water supply,” she said.
Aminah, who is from Selangor, also sighed about other infrastructure problems in Sabah, adding that while people here are nice, amenities are poor, making her regret choosing UMS to further her studies.
“I would not have come here if I had known these problems are really bad,” she said.
Pipe connection problem, damage from roadworks
Those living outside the campus also have water supply woes.
At a campus residential building called Universiti Apartment some 7.2km from UMS, a resident, Basri Ahmad, said she was informed that the problem lies with the pipes between the apartments and the campus.
She said a Water Department representative who visited the apartment today told her of pipe connection problems.
“He said that when there’s no water here (at the apartment), UMS has water supply.
“But if there’s no water there (at UMS), there will be supply here (at the apartment),” said Basri, who works at the university.
The state Water Department could not be reached for further comments on the matter.
Water supply disruptions, rationing and shortages have been common problems in Sepanggar for years, aside from the bad road conditions in the sub-district, where roadworks, which started as far back as 2017, are still ongoing.
The roadworks have been said to affect water and electricity supply when contractors dig the earth, resulting in damage to pipelines and underground cables. – The Vibes, January 26, 2023
