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Water Department moves to tackle Bukit Sepanggar water woes
Published on: Friday, December 22, 2023
Published on: Fri, Dec 22, 2023
By: Sidney Skinner
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Water Department moves to tackle Bukit Sepanggar water woes
A Department personnel checks on the condition of the pumps at the Bukit Sepanggar booster station.
The Water Department is monitoring the goings-on at Parklane in the Taman Bukit Sepanggar area, in view of the supply woes which have beset the neighbourhood.

Over 112 consumers on Lorong Bukit Sepanggar 1, Lorong Bukit Sepanggar 1A, Lorong Bukit Sepanggar 2 and Lorong Bukit Sepanggar 2A have been struggling to get by since December 9, with tap water reduced to a trickle at some homes while not a drop was available at others.

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Over the past fortnight, many of these individuals had resorted to checking into hotels, going to the mosque in the town or using the toilets at their workplace just to take a bath. 

One aggrieved homeowner wrote to Hotline about the hardships which she and her neighbours had been facing due to the unreliable supply. A copy of her letter was forwarded to the Department.

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A spokesman for the agency said one of its staff went to Parklane, shortly after receiving this correspondence.

This staff checked on the condition of the equipment at the Department’s pumphouse in Bukit Sepanggar, according to him.

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“We have two pumps and some balancing tanks at this installation,” he said. 

“One is switched on daily which allows roughly around 2 million litres of water to enter the tanks. The other is kept on standby.”

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He said its technician had to activate the second device as well in order to partially stabilise the situation in the neighbourhood. 

“He also double-checked on the control panel for the pumps and found that the mechanisms inside were functioning as they should.”

The agency’s personnel later went around the housing area and confirmed that water was reaching some of the individual meters there, according to him.

“We suspect that the falling water levels inside the tanks may have triggered the shortage. 

“This situation is likely to have come about because the demand from consumers in the area has exceeded the supply.”

The Department announced in May that it was weighing up the possibility of replacing the existing pumps with those of a stronger horsepower so that an additional 0.5 million litres might be pulled into the tanks.

“We intend to phase out the existing devices in stages,” the administration stated at the time. 

“We hope to do away with the one used on a day-to-day basis later this year before having the other pump removed too.”

When asked about this plan, the spokesman said his superiors were still evaluating the feasibility of executing this earlier intention.

“We may consider diverting the supply to Parklane so that those living here receive some tap-water over the holiday period.

“Our technicians have been asked to keep an eye on the equipment at the Bukit Sepanggar pumphouse during the coming Christmas celebrations.

He said special attention would be given to manually reactivating the pumps, if this became necessary.

“We have called on our staff to be more mindful of any electricity disruptions and to make their way to our pumphouse, as soon as they could, after the power comes back.

“In some instances, they may be required to switch on the pumps after the electricity has been restored.”

He explained that the pumps operated on an automatic system.

“A sensor is supposed to switch the pumps off, when the water levels in the tanks are low, and switch them on, when the levels next reach the required height.”

On previous occasions when supply woes have arisen, the Department has sometimes had treated water delivered – via tanker – to consumers in Parklane. 

The spokesman was reminded of this. He, however, admitted that it would not be possible to deploy its vehicles in this instance and declined to explain why a supply could not be sent to the neighbourhood.
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