PAPAR: The Papar district faces a shortage of 15 million litres of treated water supply daily as its two water treatment plants (LRA) are not running at full capacity, said Papar Member of Parliament Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali (pix).
Armizan, who is the Domestic Trade and Costs of Living Minister, said the Limbahau Emergency Water Supply Scheme (EWSS) LRA, with a daily capacity of 10 million litres, could not operate fully while the Jetama LRA, which has the same daily capacity, was only operating at half the capacity.
He said this was due to high raw water salinity of over 5,300 milligrammes/litre (mg/L) compared to the standard reading of 120 mg/L due to the drought and El-Nino phenomenon.
“For almost a month now, checking the weather forecast several times daily, but there is still no rain. Rain is vital to allow raw water salinity levels at the water intake of the two LRAs to drop below the level allowed for water treatment.
“Currently, we only have 40 million litres of treated water supply (in Papar), namely 35 million litres from Kogopon and 5 million more from the Jetama LRA, which is operating at half capacity,” he said in his Facebook post today.
On Tuesday (March 19), Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor instructed the Water Department and Jetama Sdn Bhd to build a second water intake to feed the Limbahau EWSS LRA, thus, enabling the plant to operate properly.
Armizan said work to repair the burst main pipe, which channels the raw water supply to the Kogopon LRA, was completed late last night and the LRA has begun operating after being forced to be closed for two days due to the repair works.
He said the water supply from the Kogopon LRA would need time to reach areas at the end of the distribution line and, as such, he had asked his team, particularly in the Kawang, Limbahau and Pantai Manis to check on locations that have not yet receive water supply.
According to Armizan, work to upgrade the Kogopon LRA began last August and is expected to be completed in August 2026.
The upgrading project, he added, would allow the capacity to be increased to 80 million litres per day.
“The project will allow us to have a bigger reserve margin in Papar, even during the drought,” he said. -Bernama
