Water supply hit by bad weather and blackout
Published on: Thursday, October 15, 2020
By: Sidney Skinner
The murky river water at Telibong water treatment plant
THE intermittent operations at the Telibong 1 Water Treatment Plant is contributing to the supply woes which consumers in some parts of Inanam, Manggatal and Telipok have been experiencing.A Department spokesman said the plant was shut down on Monday and Wednesday due to the inclement weather which hit the State.
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He said this gave rise to the high-turbidity of the river water in both instances going into the plant.
“On Wednesday, the turbidity reading was 1663NTU, he said.
The submerged raw-water intake pipes
“We had to wait until the levels dropped below 1,000NTU before activities at the plant could resume.”
He said the main raw-water intake for the facility was flooded on Wednesday as a result of the heavy rains.
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He said only between 50 to 60 million litres of treated water was produced because of this.
Under normal circumstances, the plant has a daily output of between 72 to 73 million litres.
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The areas affected by Wednesday’s shutdown extended from the Manggatal and Telipok townships to UUC Bandar Sierra and the Telipok settlement.
The water woes also impacted numerous villages, including Kg Madsiang, Kg Pulutan, Kg Rampayan, Kg Darau, Kg Warisan, Kg Kalansanan, Kg Giling, Kg Telipok, Kg Maurah Sumagid, Kg Timbok, Kg Borunuon, Kg Tebobon, Kg Keliangau, Kg Gudon.
Consumers in housing areas were not spared either. These included those living in Taman Richdar, Taman Permai, Taman Inanam Laut, Taman Bakti Ikhlas, Taman Fajar, Taman Satria, Taman Sri Baru, Taman Puterajaya, Taman Putera Perdana, Taman Bukit Sepanggar, Taman Canggih, Taman Rimba.
The occupants of flats and apartments in Telipok Ria, Telipok Jaya, Puncak Manggatal, UCA2, Putramas and Alam Puteri also found their water supply erratic.
Bandar Sierra shoplots and Grand Merdeka mall were among commercial properties which felt the impact of the supply woes.
On top of the problems arising from the murky river water, the Department also had to deal with electricity problems during both shutdowns, according to the spokesman.
Water tankers delivering treated clean water to Bandar Sierra reservoir.
“The power supply caused the mechanisms at the plant to trip several times on Monday,” he said.
“On Wednesday, a blackout which occurred in the morning rendered our water-pumps at Bandar Sierra, in Manggatal, and Telipok inoperable.”
He said Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) alerted the Department about the latter outage around 3am that day.
“We have informed SESB about the electricity issues involving our installations and are working together with the company on how best to minimise these problems.”
The spokesman said the agency was keeping an eye on the situation to ensure its consumers did receive a supply.
“We have deployed our water tankers to have water delivered to those who are finding it difficult to get by during this period.
He said there were two such vehicles at the Department’s disposal, with a 1,000-litre and 3,000-litre capacity respectively.
“We urge the public to report any irregularities directly to us so that we can attend to these matters as soon as possible.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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