Maintenance on another filter at Moyog Water Treatment Plant next week
Published on: Thursday, February 02, 2023
By: Sidney Skinner
A senior officer at the Department personally oversees efforts to modify the valve near its R13 installation.
ANOTHER filter at the Moyog Water Treatment Plant is due to be maintained next week, with a fortnight allotted for the Water Department’s concessionaire to change the sand in this equipment.A spokesman for the agency said between eight to 10 bags of sand – each weighing about 1,000 kg – were to be used as part of this maintenance.
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He said this was the second of the Plant’s eight filters to be attended to over the past few months.
“When the first sand-media filter was dealt with in October, the company’s staff managed to get through the maintenance within nine days,” he said.
“Barring any unforeseen circumstances, we hope the work will be performed with similar expediency in this instance too.”
The water pressure in this part of University Plaza was found to be acceptable.
In any case, the Department has pre-empted consumers about the low pressure of the supply which they might find at premises in the City, Karamunsing, Sembulan, Tanjung Aru, Kepayan, Petagas, Putatan, Penampang, Kobusak, Bukit Padang, Luyang, Signal Hill, Likas, Tanjung Lipat, Kolombong and Inanam.
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Likewise, the strength of the tap-water at residential and commercial properties along Jalan Penampang Baru, Jalan Penampang-Papar Lama, Jalan Papar Baru, Jalan Pintas Donggongon, Jalan Panglima Banting and Jalan Bundusan could also be impacted.
On top of this, those staying and working at Country Heights Apartments and Beverly Hills Apartments, as well as in Kg Ketiau, might also experience a weak water pressure.
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A similar inconvenience could also take place at the Kadazan Dusun Cultural Association building and Terminal 1 of the Kota Kinabalu International Airport.
The spokesman said the output from the Moyog Plant was expected to drop by about eight per cent for the duration of the maintenance period: between February 6 and February 19.
Under normal circumstances, a total of 185 million litres was produced daily (MLD) at the facility, according to him.
“Production will temporarily fall to 170 MLD for the next two weeks. Because of this reduction, we have advised the public to start stocking up on water from now till next Monday.”
He said the Department had issued a notice to this affect over social media.
“We have tentatively scheduled to have the six remaining filters at Moyog maintained separately at two month intervals.”
Meanwhile, mischief-makers were to blame for the water woes which some consumers in Inanam and Manggatal experienced for the past two weeks.
Department officers, investigating reports about dry taps at several premises, including hostels at the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) campus and shops at the University Plaza commercial centre, traced these problems to its R13 reservoir, near the higher education institution.
The spokesman said they were baffled to find that the levels of water inside the reservoir were low despite the agency’s “data-logger” showing that a supply was reaching the installation.
The Department’s technician in the midst of readjusting the valve.
“For a time, we even tried diverting treated water to the problem areas but this didn’t seem to offer the affected consumers, including the university students, any relief.”
He said the Department’s director met with the top administration for UMS himself, at one point, to discuss what was transpiring.
“It was later discovered that some errant parties had tampered with separate valves along the distribution mains leading to R13,” he said.
“They messed up our water-balancing and pressure management settings which gave rise to the lack of a supply, if not weak pressure, at various properties along Jalan Sulaman.”
He said these valves had since been re-adjusted to the Department’s settings and action was taken earlier this week to modify the one closer to the UMS.
“One of our senior officers personally oversaw this modification. We hope this might make it more difficult for the valve to be tampered with in future.
He said the agency’s technicians – tasked with looking after its installations in the Northern Region – had also been asked be more mindful about the condition of these assets.
On top of this, the Department had checked on the incoming supply to the campus and shops at University Plaza, according to him.
“Our staff cleared any airlocks they found in the distribution mains and, later, confirmed that the water pressure at these locations was acceptable.”
The spokesman said the agency was still trying to identify those who had turned the valves in this instance.
He said they could be deemed to have contravened the agency’s ordinance.
The spokesman said it was an offence for anyone, without prior approval from the Department, to:
· tamper with any waterworks.
· draw off, divert or take water from the waterworks.
· interfere with, open or shut any valve, hydrant or stopcock belonging to the waterworks.
“Offenders risk having to settle a fine of up to RM50,000, serve a two-year jail term or both.
“On top of this, they can be slapped with a compound amounting to 50 per cent of the total fine.”
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