KOTA KINABALU: There is enough water in Sabah’s Babagon dam for some half a million people in the city and its greater areas despite the ongoing dry spell.
“The Babagon dam is at a healthy level,” Deputy Chief Minister III Datuk Shahelmey Yahya (pic) told reporters at the Jentayu Sustainables Berhad Raya Open House on Tuesday (April 16).
Assuring that the water reserves could sustain needs for the next three months without rain, the state Works Minister said for Kota Kinabalu, the challenge was not so much water shortage, but distribution.
“We have made some improvements to issues related to non-revenue water and illegal piping,” he said, adding that they expect to stabilise supply for the city through further works.
He said the water situation in Papar, meanwhile, was seeing some improvement.
Both the Jetama and Kogopon water treatment plants are producing about 49 million litres per day (MLD), a shortfall of 10 to 12MLD.
“Operation of the plants in Limbahau remain temporarily halted due to high chloride content in the water,” he said.
Shahelmey said the Water Department would continue delivering water to affected consumers, who may also go to it directly for supply.
As for the South-East of Tawau district, namely Sebatik island and Banggi, he said the water in the dams was still low despite some rainfall.
“The plant in Sebatik operates 16 hours a week with very minimal supply of water, while Banggi, which has a 1MLD water plant, continues to get water from tube well sources,” he said.
