Stop treating toilets as dustbins: City Hall
Published on: Thursday, September 05, 2024
By: Sidney Skinner
The sewage flooding onto this part of Jalan Pintas Ujana has become a recurring nuisance to motorists.
CITY Hall has called on its rate-payers to refrain from treating their toilets as dustbins as this is contributing to the sewerage woes around Kota Kinabalu.
A spokesman for the agency said foreign objects, flushed into the sewer pipes, had repeatedly disrupted the operations of the sewage systems at the various residential and commercial properties under its maintenance.
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He said the mechanisms at its sewage treatment plants (STPs) had, on occasion, been jammed with everything from the sanitary pads and hand towels to clumps of hair and various household items.
“During Covid-times, it was not uncommon to find that wads of wet-tissue had got in the way of the smooth operation of the equipment inside,” he said.
He said the City Hall’s technicians had employed various strategies to try and prevent the mechanisms from being damaged by these objects.
“Nevertheless, they are constantly having to clear blockages inside our STPs.”
A City Hall technician checks on the goings-on at the pipe after the rubbish at the intake section had been removed.
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He said the agency would try to make the public more aware of the inconvenience created by their “lack of discipline and inconsiderate” actions.
The spokesman said the “intake section” for its oxidation ponds, off Jalan Pintas Ujana Inanam, was found clogged with rubbish earlier this week.
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These foreign objects contributed to the huge volume of effluent which was seen gushing out of a large pipe on the roadside and into the drain nearby, according to him.
The foul smelling liquid even wound up spilling onto part of the stretch, much to the chagrin of road-users unlucky enough to be going this way at the time.
One such motorist, whose tyres were soiled with sewage, expressed his disgust about the spillage.
She claimed that this was not the first time that the road had been “flooded” with effluent.
“In have heard tell that this has been happening, on and off, for years,” she said.
“Nevertheless, up till now, I have never had the misfortune of driving through the filth myself.”
The individual felt that it was way past time that the nuisance caused by the effluent gushing onto Jalan Pintas Ujana was resolved.
She said this would be a boon to the many motorists who, like herself, travelled between the City Hall workshop in the area and their homes near the Likas Hospital.
The spokesman said the agency had taken note of the driver’s concerns and would try its best to prevent the nuisance from recurring.
“Our maintenance crew cleared the blockages from the intake section on Monday afternoon,” he said.
“These technicians have been asked to keep an eye on the condition of the pipe at this section of the road from time to time and to deal with any irregularities involving the intake promptly as and when they arise.”
He said the contents from septic tanks – in areas ranging from Inanam and the central business district for Kota Kinabalu to Dah Yeh Villa and the Time Square area – were brought to the oxidation facility off Jalan Pintas Ujana.
“The sludge is supposed to be discharged into one of the two ponds and is broken down by the anaerobic bacteria inside.
“This is the only large-scale facility of its kind in Kota Kinabalu.”
CYANN of Inanam said the traffic on Jalan Ujana was particularly heavy.
On top of drivers living in the northern region of the State Capital, she said even ambulances made use of the road to reach the Hospital.
She hoped the local authorities would accord some priority to mitigating, if not stopping, the inconvenience caused by the sewage which periodically soiled the stretch.
“They should either fix this problem or consider relocating the sewerage fixtures away from the verge and closer to the ponds,” she said.
“The bad smell and filth from the effluent spilling on the road makes for a really unpleasant driving experience.”
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