Water Department keeping tabs on Penampang, Luyang supply
Published on: Friday, May 06, 2022
By: Sidney Skinner
Water Department personnel make their way to the bulk meter and ground tanks for the Penampang apartments.
Water Department staff are keeping an eye on the supply to parts of Penampang and Luyang to minimise the water woes which consumers at these locations have been experiencing.A spokesman for the agency said it was aware that the taps in properties, off Jalan Minintod and Jalan Dimpoukon, at the former had periodically run dry last month.
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He said the inclement weather which the State Capital had experienced at the time was to blame for this problem.
The output from the Department’s Kasigui Treatment Plant was repeatedly disrupted because of the downpours.
He said the heavy rains caused the river water, channelled to the Plant, to become extremely murky one too many times in April.
“The increasing amount of sediment and other foreign particles in the chamber was compromising the quality of the supply being produced,” he said.
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“Because of this, we were forced us to have the mixing chamber at the Kasigui Plant cleaned earlier than it should.”
He said coagulant was mixed with the raw water in the “chamber” which was usually maintained twice a year.
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“We decided to revise this schedule due to the bad weather and have the chamber attended to around mid-April.”
Shortly after this maintenance was performed, he said, the agency detected high levels of manganese in the river water. He said activities at the Plant had to occasionally be halted, during the latter half of the month, to deal with this problem.
The agency’s staff confirmed that the supply was entering the tanks inside the compound for the apartments.
“The output from the Plant dropped between 20–30 million litres daily as a result causing a supply shortage at the surrounding properties, including those around the Minintod and Dimpoukon areas.”
He said about 53 million litres of treated water was produced daily at the plant, under normal circumstances.
“We are continuing to monitor the situation in this part of Penampang.
“If need be, we will adjust the valve on the distribution mains to try and regulate the supply to our consumers here.”
He said the Department’s staff were also making frequent checks of the main distribution pipes leading to Lorong Pokok Merbau as Luyang consumers there had also been impacted by the intermittent output from the Kasigui Plant.
The spokesman was responding to complaints from two Luyang homeowners and a Penampang apartment-dweller about the irregular supply in their respective areas.
They claimed that they were frequently without tap water for hours and, sometimes, even days on end.
ALYSTER, who occupies a second floor apartment, was unhappy about the erratic supply in his block.
“I only get treated water between 5.30am-7am and, again, from 5.30pm-7pm,” he said.
“It used to be available till 9am and 9pm but, for months now, the taps run dry before then.”
He said the pressure of the water coming into his unit had also been weak on many occasions.
“I have noticed that, when it does trickle in, the supply vanishes after less than half an hour.”
Alyster said he had wearied of contacting the Department and management company (MC) for the property about these problems.
“I have been experiencing these difficulties, on and off, since February.
“The supply has not improved despite my many pleas for help.”
The water pressure inside the main pipes leading to this meter in Luyang was strong at the time that the Department’s staff went to the neighbourhood.
CHIN and CHRIS, both of whom lived in Luyang, said tap water only came into their houses from about 1am or 2am onwards.
They said not a drop of water was available by about 7am or 8am.
“This has been happening for the past year,” they said.
“We wonder if our supply woes might have anything to do with some condominiums which are being built in our area.”
Chin said the Department’s staff seemed to be in the dark as to what was going on in their neighbourhood.
“The Careline staff told me that I was the only homeowner to have reported this problem,” he said.
Chris, on the other hand, couldn’t understand why he and others staying along Lorong Pokok Merbau had been hit with these water woes.
“My friend, who lives in a housing area nearby, told me that he has no problem with his supply. He receives tap water round the clock.”
The trio provided Hotline with the dates of the most recent disruptions. This information was forwarded to the agency.
The spokesman said the Department’s staff checked on the condition of the distribution line leading to the Penampang apartments and Luyang neighbourhood, shortly after learning about these problems.
“They cleared any air locks inside the transmission pipes before the respective meters and double-checked on the pressure of the water inside,” he said.
“At the time, they found the pressure at both locations to be acceptable.”
They went down to Lorong Pokok Merbau twice – at different times of the morning and afternoon – and once to Jalan Dimpoukon.
In the case of the latter, the agency’s staff also had a look at the balancing and ground tanks inside the apartment compound, according to the spokesman.
“They confirmed that the incoming supply was entering these installations.”
“We urge our consumers to report any irregularities directly to us so that we can attend to these problems as soon as possible.”
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