Department refurbishing sewer line in State Capital
Published on: Wednesday, May 25, 2022
By: Sidney Skinner
SSD staff in the midst of adding microbes to the sewage at the Lorong Mergastua pumphouse.
The Sewage Services Department is in the process of refurbishing the sewer line along several roads around the State Capital, including Jalan Teluk Likas, Jalan Tun Fuad Stephens and Jalan Tuaran Lama.A spokeswoman for the agency said the pipes in 11 separate sections, which spanned a total of 955 metres, were being attended to as part of the Jalan Kota Kinabalu-Kudat Sewage Pipe Repair Project.
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Barring any unforeseen circumstances, she said, the Department hoped to finish refurbishing the sewerage system in these areas by September next year.
“Some of the sewer lines are in urgent need of rehabilitation as they have deteriorated due to wear and tear,” she said.
A technician with the Department checks the control panel for the Dah Yeh Villa sewage pumps.
“The pipes, in certain places beneath the roads involved, have collapsed because of their age and the corrosive impact of the effluent inside.”
The spokeswoman said the agency had limited the operations of those sewage-pumps under its jurisdiction for the duration of the project.
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“The pumps used to function automatically round the clock.
“Since the project began earlier this year, however, these devices have to be manually switched on and off.”
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She said the Department’s staff had been assigned to deactivate and reactivate the pumps.
“They are supposed to do this according to a schedule every day, even on weekends and public holidays.
“Should they fail to check-in at the pump-houses as they should, then sewerage-irregularities might be triggered in some parts of the City.
“For instance, the manholes on some main roads might start to overflow.”
She said the Department was working together with its peers at City Hall to co-ordinate the timing of those pumps which were maintained by the latter agency.
“This will minimise any inconvenience caused to the public while the upgrading work is still in progress.”
The spokeswoman was responding to a Jalan Damai road-user’s observations about a mysterious wet patch which
appeared on the stretch on a recent Sunday.
Workers with a City Hall subcontractor put their backs into removing the metal cover from the overflowing manhole on Jalan Damai.
The resident had been under the impression that a water main in the vicinity might be leaking.
The spokeswoman clarified that it was effluent which was escaping onto the stretch and not tap water.
She said a check revealed that a manhole at this section of the stretch had overflowed due to a “technical problem” at the Department’s pump-house in Dah Yeh Villa, as well as the one in Lorong Mergastua, in Likas.
“Our personnel have been reminded not to be tardy in dealing with the pumps at these locations.
“In the meantime, we have taken to dosing the effluent at the Likas pump-house with microbes to minimise the nuisance created by the stench coming from these fluids.”
ROWLAND of Luyang suspected that some water pipes along Jalan Damai might be damaged.
“A clear fluid was flowing across the road. I believe this was not effluent as there was no foul smell coming from the direction of the fluid,” he said.
He said it was a gross negligence to see tap water going to waste in this manner.
“The leaking pipe is on the main road near some shophouses.”
Rowland had been heading towards the T-junction on Jalan Tuaran from the Damai Plaza Commercial Centre, when he noticed the dampness on the road.
“I couldn’t understand why only one section of Jalan Damai was wet while the rest of the stretch was dry.
“This is not a one-off occurrence. In most instances, the road will be tarred shortly after this happens.”
He feared that that potholes could form in the stretch because of the repeated leaks.
One of the workers had to enter the manhole to clear the blockages from inside.
Rowland provided Hotline with the location of the shophouses in question. This information was initially forwarded to the Water Department and City Hall.
A spokesman for the former said the agency’s staff failed to find anything amiss with the water pipes in the area.
“They checked the distribution mains along the affected section of Jalan Damai and found that they were not clogged or damaged,” he said.
A City Hall spokesman said a sewer pipe, beneath the stretch, was checked on the Sunday that its Engineering Department became aware of the problem.
“One of our subcontractor’s workers personally went into the manhole to remove the debris which had accumulated inside the pipe,” he said.
“The contractor has been asked to keep an eye on the condition of the pipes to ensure that any irregularities involving the pipes are dealt with as soon as possible.”
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