M’ggatal water woe due to reservoir
Published on: Tuesday, November 10, 2020
By: Sidney Skinner
The reservoir being filled with treated water to boost the levels.
A PROBLEM at the reservoir servicing one part of the Sepanggar Bay area, in Manggatal, was to blame for the water woes which consumers there experienced recently.A Water Department spokesman said a check revealed that the water level at the R15 reservoir was low.
ADVERTISEMENT
“We suspect that the supply from the Telibong treatment plant might not have been able to go up to the reservoir,” he said.
“The Department is in the process of trying to determine how this could have happened.”
He said treated water was temporarily diverted to the reservoir to remedy this problem.
“We had to control the valve along the main distribution line servicing parts of Manggatal to boost the pressure of the water being channelled to the reservoir from which these residents draw their supply.”
ADVERTISEMENT
The spokesman said some Manggatal consumers, including those in Taman Indah Permai, Taman Bukit Sepanggar, University Apartments and Taman Canggih, found that the pressure of the water coming from their taps was weak because of this.
He admitted that the agency was struggling to meet the escalating demands for water from consumers in Manggatal, Telipok and Tuaran.
ADVERTISEMENT
“With more and more residential and commercial properties coming up around these areas, both the Telibong Treatment Plants are straining to keep up with the added requests for a supply.”
The dept checked that tap water was reaching the area, as evidenced by the gusher above.
Nevertheless, the Department’s staff would keep an eye on the water level at the reservoir to minimise the inconvenience caused to the public there, according to her.
“We will implement a balancing exercise, if need be, to ensure that there is enough water at the reservoir.”
SHEILA of Manggatal bemoaned the low water pressure of the supply which those living in Taman Indah Permai had been receiving.
She said water only reached the tap in her garage and even then the supply was reduced to a trickle.
“Not a drop is available in either my kitchen, bathrooms or the toilets inside,” she said.
She bemoaned the inconvenience caused by the lengthy wait she had to endure just to fill up one bucket, let alone the several others she had.
After this was done she had the added chore of having to carry these heavy receptacles into her home.
“The water in my storage tank is depleted,” she said on October 6, adding that the supply had been irregular for the past few months.
She said the taps in her house frequently ran dry at between 5am and 10pm.
“It is difficult to prepare meals, let alone wash up or do my laundry, when the supply is so unreliable.”
Shelia said she had contacted the Department’s Care Line several times about this problem.
In each instance, she claimed to have been assured that her complaint would be forwarded to a technician.
“At one stage, when I voiced my frustration over the persistent water woe, the staff who took my call challenged me to put my grievance in writing to the agency’s director.”
She admitted to being at a loss to understand why the Department had not restored a normal supply to the neighbourhood after so long.
“It has been raining heavily on and off in the State Capital off late. I would have thought that an abundance of water would be a boon for water production, instead of a hindrance.
“Instead, the water is weak and what little is available is not even clean sometimes.”
She said the supply, in these instances, was murky with a colour that reminded her of “teh-O (plain tea)”.
Sheila said that this was not the first time that she had had to deal with an irregular supply at her home.
“I first moved to Taman Indah Permai about 20 years ago. The tap water has been erratic on and off over the years.
“However, this is my worst experience of this problem. The supply has gradually been getting worse since the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) came into affect in October.”
A Tuaran consumer shared Sheila’s displeasure about the pressure-related supply woes during the CMCO, saying that he had incurred extra costs because of these problems.
FOOK said he had been forced to have his clothes laundered at the town as he could not wash them at his home in Kg Tanjung.
He said he had had already spent almost RM150 doing this over multiple visits to the laundrette.
“The pressure is so poor that the water cannot reach my water-tank,” he said.
“Whatever I managed to store in pails is used to flush my toilets.”
At the time that he contacted Hotline, Fook said the situation had deteriorated further.
“I have been without any water for a week. I went to the Department’s branch in the district on a recent weekday to find out why this was happening.
“To my dismay, I found the office closed.”
He provided Hotline with the location of this home which was forwarded to the agency.
When contacted about this matter, a spokeswoman for the Department’s Tuaran branch said she had been unaware of any water woes in the village.
Nevertheless, she said the agency’s staff would check on the condition of the distribution mains leading to the resident’s abode.
She said they would have to determine whether this was an isolated case or a bigger problem involving the area.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
