PAPAR: The water supply interruption affecting 43 villages and housing estates, impacting over 100,000 residents in Papar, has drawn significant concern from local Member of Parliament Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali, Sabah First Info reported.
Armizan said various measures, including an increase in the water supply from 600,000 litres to 1.18 million litres daily, have been undertaken to address the shortages in the affected areas.
However, he noted that the current supply falls short of the minimum requirement of seven million litres per day for the Papar constituency.
Efforts are underway to seek assistance from the state government and private entities for suitable tanker trucks to facilitate water distribution.
Challenges have arisen, particularly at the Kogopon Water Treatment Plant, due to congestion from vehicles collecting water, prompting a shift to smaller lorries for water collection from the Papar Water Department.
Regarding the implementation of cloud seeding in Papar, Armizan said the local ecosystem is unsuitable for such measures.
He suggested that funds allocated for cloud seeding would be better spent on hiring additional private tanker trucks to alleviate water shortages.
Armizan plans to chair a meeting with relevant agencies to secure funding, emphasising the need to utilise available allocations, including the MP's office resources, to aid the affected communities.
He assured that the water supply assistance would continue until Aidilfitri and until the water supply issues are fully resolved.
