Department doing all it can to solve Kota Kinabalu sewerage woe
Published on: Thursday, August 18, 2022
By: Sidney Skinner
At one stage, a desludging tanker was sent to pump out the effluent.
The Sewage Services Department is keeping tabs on the sewer line servicing parts of the City while waiting for new pumps to be installed at its Australia Place pumping-station.A spokeswoman for the agency said the existing devices – both the one used daily, as well as the one on standby – malfunctioned late last month.
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“Many of the individual components have gradually worn down as the pumps were first put in place decades ago,” she said.
“We have appointed a contractor to replace these devices and hope to have the station fully operational again by September.”
When asked if a standby pump from one of the Department’s other stations might be temporarily relocated to its Australia Place installation, she said this would not be possible.
City Hall’s maintenance crew even tried putting chemical solvents into the sewer line.
“From our observations, the effluent is still flowing, albeit slowly even without the pumps, thanks to gravity.
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“However, if the sewerage for any of the commercial centres around the Australia Place pumping-station does become overloaded, then we will arrange to de-sludge the building in question.”
She said the contractor, tasked with replacing the pumps, had been instructed to monitor the level of the effluent in the pipes servicing this part of the State Capital.
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“The individual was asked to make regular checks and, if need be, send a tanker to pump out the sewage should the level become problematic.”
The spokeswoman said effluent from premises as far away as Karamunsing and Segama went through the Australia Place pumping-station to the Department’s installation at Jalan Mergastua in Likas.
The sewage was later channelled to the oxidation ponds in Inanam, according to her.
She said pumps under the Department’s jurisdiction were maintained on a monthly basis.
The breakdown of the pumps at the Australia Place pumping-station has held up City Hall’s efforts to resolve the toilet woes which those living and working at some shophouses near the community centre in the State Capital have been experiencing, on and off, over the past few months.
The agency’s Engineering Department has reason to believe that the sewer line beneath Jalan KK-By Pass might be compromised in some way.
A City Hall spokesman said its personnel tried to confirm these suspicions at the beginning of August.
“They intended to have a mini closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera sent through the sewer mains to verify which if any of these pipes, or the adjoining ones, were damaged,” he said.
Sewage Services Department technicians carry out maintenance at the Australia Place pumping-station.
“However, this undertaking had to be put off due to the problem at the Australia Place pumping-station.”
He said the CCTV footage was deemed necessary to ensure that the repairs did become too burdensome to the agency.
“There are underground electricity cables and water distribution mains in this area.
“We don’t want to haphazardly excavate down to the sewage pipes and unwittingly damage any of these utilities as the ensuing repairs would prove to be a huge drain on our time and resources.”
City Hall was responding to feedback about the overflowing manholes near shops and eateries at the shophouses on Jalan Dewan.
Many proprietors were displeased about the stench which had been permeating their premises, from time to time, since May.
Others had wearied of listening to the difficulties their customers encountered in using the toilets at their units.
The spokesman said the agency was aware of the sewage woes in this part of the State Capital.
“Our technicians checked on the manholes around the shophouses when this was first brought to our attention in May,” he said.
“The contractor’s workers tried to manually dislodge the blockages in the sewer line at that time.
“When this didn’t failed to do the trick, they even tried pouring chemical solvents into the pipes in the hope of breaking down these obstructions.”
He said a desludging tanker subsequently went to Jalan Dewan to offer rate-payers some relief from their sewage-related problems.
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