Of dry taps and half-hearted work
Published on: Thursday, October 21, 2021
By: Sidney Skinner
.jpg "Of dry taps and half-hearted work")
Treated water pours out from a burst pipe, near the Donggongon Sports Complex.
The Water Department will step up efforts to check on the condition of its distribution mains in Penampang to ensure that consumers are not unduly inconvenienced by pipe-bursts or its efforts to maintain these installations.This action follows complaints from an apartment-owner about the erratic supply in Taman Penampang earlier this week, as well as the half-hearted work performed by one of the agency’s contractor who repaired some pipes Kg Hungab.
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Their problems were triggered by unexpected leaks in their respective areas.
Both individuals furnished Hotline with their particulars, including their location address, which were forwarded to the Department.
The dug trench was left unattended to for more than a fortnight.
A spokesman for the agency said damage to the transmission line servicing some Luyang apartments disrupted the supply to consumers there.
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A Water Department spokesman said its staff found that an asbestos cement (AC) main along the road near the Donggongon Sports Complex had burst on Sunday morning.
“The 150 millimetre pipe began leaking at around 8am without warning,” he said.
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“We suspect that this may have happened due to the wear and tear on the structure over the years.
He said it took almost 12 hours to repair the AC pipe, before a supply could be restored.
“Consumers regained their tap water in stages, once sufficient pressure had built up in the pipes,” he said.
Besides those around the town and in Taman Penampang, the other areas impacted by the burst included parts of the St Michael area and along Jalan Penampang Bypass, as well as Taman Donggongon, Taman Manis, Taman Millennium, Taman Padi View, Taman Liyana, Taman Peluduk, Taman Hilton, Taman Imperial Villa, Taman Sahabat, Beverly Hills Phases 1-5, Country Heights, Taman Sahabat, Taman Delta Heights and Taman Starland.
Among the affected villages were Kg Domis, Kg Hiko, Kg Hungab, Kg Buzut Kg Koidupan and Kg Sindanan.
TRACEY, who lives in Taman Penampang, said she returned home from work at around 6pm on Sunday, to find that the taps had run dry in her second floor-unit.
“I stayed up till the wee hours but there was still no water,” she said. “When I got up at 6am nothing had changed.”
She bemoaned her inability to bathe, let alone do her laundry, because the taps in her apartment ran dry.
“I was forced to go early to work, just so I could take shower and brush my teeth.”
Tracey related her experience to her colleagues in Luyang and the City who claimed that they had not experienced any water woes.
“There was no disruption at the commercial center in Sembulan where my company is based either.
“Given as how there was still a supply at all these locations, I cannot understand why the apartments had to go without tap water.”
Meanwhile, a contractor, who replaced a leaking pipe along one section of the road in Kg Hungab, has repaired the verge and driveway for a house there.
The spokesman said this was done on the same day that the Department was informed by the media about the damaged road-shoulder.
“A preliminary check revealed that the contractor had left the road reserve in a bad condition,” he said.
A worker with the Department’s contractor in the midst of re-instating the road-shoulder and driveway.
“He was told to reinstate the areas which were damaged when his workers dug down to the burst section of the supply line beneath the road.”
The spokesman said the agency’s personnel later returned to double check that the verge and concrete access-way to the house there had been properly restored.
AMOS of Penampang was unhappy about the haphazard manner in which the water pipes buried outside his house were attended to.
He said the Department’s personnel damaged the road shoulder but failed to restore it after they had had finished repairing the supply line.
“A trench was dug into the verge which is hazardous to pedestrians as they risk falling into the path of oncoming traffic,” he said.
He said the excavated section extended into one section of his concrete driveway.
“I have to swerve round this part of the trench when I enter or leave my home which is an unnecessary inconvenience to me.”
He said the road reserve and his driveway had been in this poor condition for more than a fortnight.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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