PAPAR: Sabah, including the district, will need cloud seeding to produce rain and increase water supply if the drought situation continues, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Sabah, Sarawak Affairs and Special Tasks) Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali.
He said this would be among short-term measures to address the water woes in the district that is getting more serious.
“If no rain is forecast over the next few days, then we will have to do it (cloud seeding). If necessary, the District Office will bring it up to the State Government, which I will support,” he said.
Armizan said this in a press conference, Friday, after visiting the Limbahau Emergency Water Supply Scheme (EWSS) treatment plant with Limbahau Assemblyman Datuk Juil Nuatim, Community Development Leader (PPM) Datuk Johnny Mositun, Papar District Officer Mohd Fuad Abdullah and other officials.
Another short-term measure, he said, is to put up static tanks with each capable of storing up to 20,000 litres of water in areas or villages that are most affected by the water woes.
“I have instructed the Papar District Officer, who is also the Chairman of the Papar Natural Disaster Committee, to have a meeting with elected representatives and community leaders to identify the ‘hot spot’ areas that need the static tanks, including mosques, suraus and churches,” he said.
Armizan, who is also Papar MP, said the water tankers can only serve three places in a day and there are some villages where the vehicles could not reach.
“With the static tanks placed at identified hot spots, the water tankers will fill up the tanks regularly,” he said.
To a question, he said 33 villages in the district with some 19,000 people faced water problems due to the El-Nino phenomenon brought by the Southwest Monsoon from April and expected to prolong until September.
“I was told that there are 40 villages in Limbahau and some are severely affected because the Limbahau EWSS water treatment plant has not been able to operate due to unsuitable water supply source following extremely high chloride (salt water) readings.
“The maximum standard of water that can be treated is 120 milligrammes (mg) per litre, but the reading this morning was much higher, at over 1,600mg per litre.
“At night, the Water Department said the reading would go up to 2,000mg per litre because of high tide” he said.
According to Armizan, the water level in Sungai Papar (source of EWSS) has receded significantly, causing seawater to enter the mouth of the river up to water intake point.
“Consequently, the Limbahau EWSS plant could not treat the salty water and has to stop its operations until the reading is below the maximum level at 120mg per litre,” he said.
“When the upgrading (phase two) of the Kogopon water treatment plant to increase water production from 40 million litres per day (MLD) to 80MLD is completed, the water woes in Papar and up to southern part of Putatan at Lok Kawi area will be resolved,” he assured.
Presently, there are three water treatment plants in Papar that supply water, namely the Kogopon Water Treatment plant supplying 40MLD, Limbahau EWSS Treatment Plant (10MLD) and Jetama Limbahau Water Treatment Plant (14MLD).
