UMS academicians use expertise to find water supply for Sandakan islanders

 By Olivia Miwil - January 1, 2022 @ 12:04pm

Universiti Malaysia Sabah researchers using scientific methods to look for underground water for Sanghai islanders. - Pic courtesy of UMS

SANDAKAN: In the quest of finding a sustainable water supply for Sanghai islanders here, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) researchers came together to make it happen.

These scientists from the Science and Natural Resources faculty wanted to help more than 300 people at the island upon learning of the islanders' ordeal from the Batu Sapi Prihatin Welfare Association.

The group leader Dr Mohamad Zul Hilmey said the daily lives of these islanders were affected as they depend entirely on rain or water bought from the mainland.

"After conducting research activities at the field site, it is found that Pulau Sanghai Kecil is not suitable to have a tube well due to inadequate groundwater aquifers (reservoirs).

"Therefore, UMS researchers are proposing Pulau Sanghai Besar, which is about three kilometres from the original site, to become the main location to build a tube well," he said in a statement.

Mohamad also added that the varsity and association were working on applying from the Environment and Water Ministry to fund the project.

Prior to the research work at the field site, the association had suggested using a tube well system to access the underground water at the island.

Hydrologist Professor Dr Kawi Bidin said such a system had to look into the quantity and quality of the water aspects.

"Geological and hydrological factors of a place have to be considered before deciding the best way of getting water supply.

"(However), it is not necessarily that all places have water from the ground and if there is any, it is not really true that the water is safe for domestic consumption without having to go through treatment and filtration."

Another researcher Dr Hardianshah Saleh said underground water is usually found based on the resistivity of the soil.

By using the scientific method, it could facilitate the determination of the tube wells.

Apart from the mentioned hydrology and geophysics methods, the team will also be using drones to do geomorphology scanning to source for the water supply.