Unhappy: A group of villagers at Kampung Contoh Suang Parai in Kota Kinabalu’s Sepanggar area protesting over poor water delivery services.
KOTA KINABALU: It’s a problem that has been festering for two years.
For many folks living in the Land Below the Wind, they have been putting up with sudden dry taps.
From having no water during weekends to daily low water pressure, they have to deal with a problem which they deem is due to the failure of the state Water Department to provide regular services.
“I have to buy five to seven bottles of mineral water for daily use in the kitchen, cooking and washing,” said Facebook user Sue Abd Ghani.
Her kitchen tap, she said, had been dry for two weeks.
She is just praying to have just enough water to do the dishes.
Sue is among the many residents in Kota Kinabalu City and the greater areas of west coast Sabah who are highlighting their water woes on social media.
People living in flats and condominiums are among the worst-hit by the low water pressures. Sometimes, their taps go dry for days.
This water shortage is biting harder these days especially for those observing the fasting month.
The state government seems to be at its wits end, too.
For now, they could only give assurances that measures were underway to deal with the situation.Officials have blamed leaked pipes, water thefts by illegal squatter settlements and increased consumer demand for the water woes in the city here and neighbouring districts of Tuaran, Penampang and Putatan, among other areas.
However, questions about the effectiveness of the state’s water officials are continuing to be raised as issues on burst pipes and water thefts contributing to non-revenue water were not new problems.
Fighting illegal water thefts especially by squatters cannot be won, an official familiar with the state’s water issues said.
A pilot prepaid system put in place a few years ago at a settlement in Pulau Gaya has seen success in earning revenue for the department, but water supply to the area was stopped without any official reasons given. It has since become an abandoned project.
It is time for the state government to provide proper water supply to squatters with a prepaid system and earn revenue from it instead of blaming it on water thefts.
“For decades, we do not have a solution for the squatter problem itself, but at least in the meantime, they can make sure they pay for the water they steal,” the official said, adding that areas like Sepanggar here have large squatter settlements.
Sabah government leaders are also raising questions of efficiency of the water department as the state water engineers have been “grappling forever” with resolving the water crisis, especially in the state capital and other major towns and districts.
A recent meeting between Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Shahelmey Yahya, who is also state Works Minister, and state Finance Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun seems to indicate a revamp in the Water Department might just be on the cards.
Both men indicated that there was a need for the water officials to pull up their socks and tackle the problem.
“The issue is capacity, both in terms of staffing and delivery to consumers.
“We feel there’s an urgent need to put the right people at the right place at all levels of the Water Department, for better management and distribution of available water supply to consumers,” Masidi said yesterday.
When contacted, Shahelmey agreed that there was a need for Water Department officials to be more proactive in tackling the festering problem of water shortage.
“Among the immediate measures that we have been taking is to lessen the short supply of treated water by sending water tankers to the affected areas.
“We also carry out water rationing so that we could distribute the water supply to places around the coverage area,” he added.
Shahelmey said the Telibong Water Scheme 2 project aimed at increasing water supply to Kota Kinabalu and adjacent areas nears completion, but they still had to finish the pipe laying works.
“The plant is to be completed by April this year but the pipe laying work is pending. A target date is yet to be resolved,” he said, adding that it would increase the water supply for the state.
