Meeting Sabah's water needs
Published on: Saturday, March 21, 2015
Kota Kinabalu: With the current dry spell beginning to make an impact, attention is turned once again to the adequacy of the State's supply to meet the increasing demand for treated water. It also ties in with the forthcoming Sabah State-level World Water Day Conference & Exhibition 2015, being organised by the Institution of Engineers Malaysia, Sabah Branch (IEM Sabah Branch).Few may be aware that the State Capital's (then called Jesselton) first piped water supply in 1903 came from the Jesselton Water Reservoir, a man-made dam which channelled untreated rainwater direct to shops and offices in Bond Street (now Gaya Street).
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And in case you wondered where the Jesselton Water Reservoir was situated – it was at Taman Tun Fuad Stephens in Bukit Padang.At that time, the pipeline ran along Reservoir Road (now known as Jalan Kolam).Together with the surrounding districts of Penampang, Putatan, Papar and Tuaran with a population of close to 1,000,000, KK has been experiencing rapid development within the last 20 years.The State Government has implemented a number of water supply projects over the last 20 years to meet the increased demand for treated water.
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The first major project was the completion of Moyog Water Treatment Plant under the Kota Kinabalu Water Supply Privatisation Scheme in 1995. The second major component in the scheme, the completion of Babagon Dam in 1997, increased the water production capacity from 198 million litres per day (MLD) to 283 MLD which was sufficient up to 2000. The northern and southern regions of Kota Kinabalu division such as Telipok, Menggatal, Sepangar, Kinarut, Kawang and Papar experienced water supply shortage from 2000 until 2008.
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In order to solve water shortage in these areas, the State Government implemented three (3) new major water supply projects namely; Emergency Water Supply Scheme Papar (2007), Telibong II in Tuaran (2008), and Kogopon in Papar (2008) which increased the water production capacity from 283 million litres per day (MLD) to 425 MLD which would be sufficient up to 2018. All these water production facilities together with the projects for reducing non-revenue water which were carried out since year 2007 have enabled the State Water Department to cope with the ever increasing demand from new and future developments. As Jesselton expanded after World War 2, the Jesselton Water Reservoir was no longer adequate to meet the increasing water demand and was thus decommissioned in 1958 upon the completion of the Kasigui Water Treatment Plant. This plant, which abstracted its raw water from the Moyog River, had a water production capacity of 11 million liters per day (MLD) and Jesselton and its surrounding areas received the first treated water supply. In September 1967, Jesselton was renamed to Kota Kinabalu. Subsequently, the Kasigui plant was upgraded in three phases between 1968 to 1981, to a total production of 50MLD in tandem with the growing water demand.To cater for further developments towards the North area of Kota Kinabalu, the 2nd major water treatment plant was constructed in the Tuaran district. The Telibong Water Treatment Plant started operation in 1984 with a production capacity of 55MLD. This time, its raw water was abstracted from the Tuaran River. Challenges with raw water abstraction from the rivers include too dry no water and too wet causing flood and even damage to the water treatment plant facilities.Generally, the West Coast of Sabah experiences dry season from mid January to early April every year. This is the period when there is very scarce or no rainfall at all. At this time, the water treatment facilities at Telibong and Limbahau will experience shutdown due to saline intrusion (backflow of seawater into the rivers) into Sg. Tuaran and Sg. Papar which will cause interruption to water production. The dry season also causes the level of Moyog River to decrease resulting in frequent shutdown of raw water intake pumps at Kasigui Water Treatment Plant. In order to overcome the scarcity of surface water especially during dry seasons, the Government conducted a study, "Second Sabah Water Supply Project 1987" through Asian Development Bank (ADB) by Camp Dresser & McKee International Inc. in association with Camp Scott Furphy Pty., Ltd. and Kumarasivam Tan & Arrifin Sdn. Bhd. which confirmed that there is an urgent need to proceed with immediate and long-term water supply expansion programmes for Kota Kinabalu.Based on the recommendation from the ADB study, the Government implemented the immediate water supply expansion programmes for Kota Kinabalu by building a new water treatment facility (Moyog Water Treatment Plant) at Inobong which commenced operation in 1995 with a capacity of 40 MLD. Moyog WTP abstracts water from Sg. Moyog at Kg. Madziang with a 10km length raw water pipeline of 1,150 mm diameter. The second stage of this project involved the construction of the Babagon Dam which commenced in December 1997 with a raw water storage capacity of 20,500 million cubic meters which can sustain Kota Kinabalu, Penampang and Putatan in the event of a six-month drought. With the completion of the new Babagon Dam, raw water supply can be channelled to Moyog WTP thus increasing the water production capacity from 40 MLD to 170 MLD.In January 1998, Sabah experienced the worst drought in 50 years for six months due to the El-Nino phenomena but with the newly-completed Babagon Dam, consumers in Kota Kinabalu, Penampang and Putatan were saved from experiencing totally dry taps. Due to the increasing water demand, in 2007 the dam level was increased by 2.5 meters using Obermeyer Inflatable Spillway Weir thus increasing the storage capacity by 10% (23,780 million cubic meters).Since the declaration of Kota Kinabalu as a city on February 2, 2000, the development in this region has expanded tremendously, especially in the Northern part of KK, from Jalan University all the way to Sepanggar, Telipok and Tuaran, and also the Southern part of KK, namely Lok Kawi, Kinarut, Kawang, Papar and Kimanis. Some of these locations fall under the coverage of Moyog and Kasigui Water Treatment Plant and were experiencing insufficient water supply. Therefore, the government implemented three new water supply facilities, namely Emergency Water Supply Scheme Papar, Kg. Limbahau, Papar, with a capacity of 14MLD (2007), Telibong II Water Treatment Plant, Kg. Tambalugu, Tuaran, with a capacity of 80 MLD (2008), and Kogopon Water Treatment Plant, Kg. Manggis, Papar, with a capacity of 40 MLD (2008).With these three new water treatment plant facilities, it is projected that the water supply demand can be met until year 2018 for Kota Kinabalu, Penampang, Putatan, Papar and Tuaran. Currently the total water supply capacity for the whole region is 425 MLD.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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