Plan to increase water supply capacity to meet demand

KUCHING: The projected water demand in Sarawak in 2030 will increase by 2,400 million litres per day (MLD) compared with the current 2,060.

State Utilities and Telecommunications Minister Datuk Seri Julaihi Narawai said this was based on the Sarawak Water Supply and Water Grid Master Plan.

He said to ensure adequate water margin reserves, Sarawak needs at least 20% of the capacity of existing water treatment plants.

“Currently, several major water treatment plants are operating at a low margin reserve rate, such as the Batu Kitang plant in Kuching, which is at a rate of 12% and the Salim plant in Sibu, which is only at a rate of 1%.

“Several critical main projects are being and need to be implemented immediately to meet the expected increase in water demand,” he said at the state assembly sitting yesterday.

Julaihi added that for the upgrading of the Batu Kitang plant (Plant Two), which is scheduled to be completed in the third quarter of this year, its production capacity could be increased to 868 MLD compared with the current 764.

“As for the capacity upgrading of the Batu Kitang plant (Plant Four), it will help increase production capacity to 968 MLD by 2026.

“The construction of the Phase One new water treatment plant in Landeh, Kuching, which is currently in the planning stage, is estimated to have a capacity of 200 MLD, while the upgrading project of the Salim plant, Sibu, which is scheduled to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2026, will increase the capacity from 150 MLD to 300,” he said.

Julaihi also said the ministry is implementing upgrading projects to replace old and dilapidated pipes in the state, involving an allocation of RM1.085 billion, of which RM247 million has been allocated for this year.

“A stretch of 2,742km of old and dilapidated pipelines are still used in the water supply distribution system in Sarawak. This is the main cause of the high rate of non-revenue water, which is an average of 43%,” he said.