KOTA KINABALU, March 22 — The Sabah government will gazette water sources in key areas to protect these amid the prolonged drought in the state, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan.
He said the state water resources council suggested, among others, to gazette water resources in all districts in the state in order to safeguard them for future water supply sources.
The eight districts where the primary water catchment sites are now being proposed as fully protected areas are Tuaran, Papar, Tawau, Sandakan, Semporna, Kudat, Penampang, and Tambunan.
“We have agreed to gazette water resources in every district, especially near the existing water plants. This is for the future protection of our water sources as climate change happens. As protected areas, these areas cannot be disturbed even though they are state lands and outside of forest reserves.
“We will present this to the Sabah Cabinet soon, and they will be gazetted as soon as possible,” said Kitingan.
“Other areas will be for designated water catchment, and will be gazetted as conservation areas, where some allowances can be made, as they sit within farmland and private land. This is how we can manage our resources a bit better, by protecting and conserving our natural environment,” he said after chairing the first state water resources meeting this year today.
Kitingan said water levels in rivers have dropped by as much as 50 per cent and the state was looking into the construction of tube wells, coastal reservoirs in low-lying areas and retention ponds on elevated grounds to help with water reserves during the drought.
“The study to identify the areas to build the tube wells is now being carried out by the Sabah Water Department and the Mineral and Geosciences Department, the construction of the retention ponds and coastal reservoirs in flood-prone areas would not only deal future flash floods, but also strengthen water reserves,” he said.
Kitingan, who is also the state agriculture, fisheries, and food industry minister said that it was crucial that communities be involved in water conservation and they would ask local village development and security committee (JKKK) leaders to form a committee to oversee water resources.
The ongoing drought has impacted several water treatment plants namely Nabalu Water Treatment Plant, Papar Water Treatment Plant in Limbahau, Hilltop Treatment Plant in Sandakan, Sungai Intan Water Treatment Plant in Semporna, and Banggi Island Water Treatment Plant in Kudat.
The worst-hit is Sebatik island off Tawau, which has dried up with only enough reserves to last for three days.
In the state capital, the water supply in the Babagon dam can last for another 83 days.
Kitingan said that although reserves are low, it would likely be enough to sustain daily human consumption.
“It is the agricultural use that we are concerned for, particularly paddy fields which require a lot of water,” he said, adding that paddy farmers would be given assistance to pump water over the fields.
