SANDAKAN: It will take at least two more years to fully stabilise Sandakan’s water supply as daily demand continues to exceed current production capacity.
Deputy Chief Minister and state Works and Utilities Minister Datuk Seri Dr Joachim Gunsalam said the district currently produces about 169 million litres of water per day, while demand stands at around 180 million litres daily.
“This means there is already a supply shortfall,” he said after receiving a briefing from the Sandakan Water Department on the root causes of the ongoing water disruptions.
He said this during his working visit in one of Sandakan's boreholes at Mile 4 here, Monday (Feb 9) afternoon.
Joachim said ageing pipeline infrastructure had also worsened the situation, contributing to frequent supply disruptions across several areas.
He added that of more than 30 tube wells across Sandakan, only eight were currently functioning, and even these were not operating at full capacity.
Two new tube wells have recently been constructed and are undergoing testing and commissioning, with an expected combined output of around four million litres of water per day once operational.
However, Joachim said the additional supply would still fall short of meeting current demand.
Sandakan, home to close to 500,000 residents, is the second largest city in Sabah on the state’s east coast. It has been grappling with frequent water disruptions, with some neighbourhoods reporting supply outages lasting for days, and even weeks in some areas.
To address the shortfall in the short term, the state government is assessing older tube wells to determine whether they can be rehabilitated to resume water extraction.
“If rehabilitation is not possible and water sources are still available underground, we may have to build additional tube wells,” he said.
For long-term solutions, Joachim said plans were underway to boost capacity at the Segaliud and Kinabatangan water treatment plants, alongside the construction of new pipeline networks to allow water to be distributed between different supply zones.
He said the upgraded network would make the system more flexible and reduce disruptions when one treatment plant experiences issues.
According to Joachim, full stabilisation of Sandakan’s water supply could take up to two years, although he has instructed officials to expedite the timeline as much as possible.
In the meantime, the Sabah Water Department has been directed to continue providing emergency assistance to severely affected areas.
This includes deploying mobile water tankers and installing static water tanks at critical locations, allowing residents to collect water free of charge.
