Plan to solve water woes in Bau, Lundu being drawn up
KUCHING: A concrete plan to deal with the water supply issue in Bau and Lundu districts is now being outlined.
Assistant Minister for Public Utilities ( Water Supply) Datuk Roland Sagah Wee Inn said the state Rural Water Supply Department (JBALB) had been tasked with making the plan.
He said based on studies carried out by the department, the water issue in Bau and Lundu districts was not about the lack of water at the intake point, but it was about the pipelines and water pressure.
The pipelines were either too small to distribute sufficient supply to the increasing population, or too old that leakages occurred here and there.
“We thank the prime minister for approving a RM129-million allocation to resolve water supply issue in Tanjong Datu and Tasik Biru. While waiting for the fund, we have asked JBALB to start outlining a concrete plan to overcome the problem in these two districts,” said Sagah.
He said the proposed works would include replacing the old and small pipelines with new and bigger ones.
Sagah said for now, JBALB had no problem meeting the water demands, especially in Bau as the department was also buying treated water from Kuching Water Board ( KWB) and Bau water treatment plant that could only produce seven million litres per day ( MLD). He added that due to the leakages, the department had been supplying 23MLD of water to Bau, which needed only about 10MLD. This means that 13MLD has been counted as non-revenue water (NRW).
“Hopefully, by replacing all the leaking pipelines, the problem of water supply in Bau and Lundu will become things of the past,” he said.