Sandakan Restaurants Struggle Amid Unstable Water Suppy 

SANDAKAN, Sept 20 (Bernama) -- Some restaurants here are still using paper cups and plastic cutlery as the water supply remains unstable.  

Restaurant worker Mohd Rosman Saluuis, 25, said his outlet had to resort to using paper cups along with plastic spoons and forks to save water for washing since the second day of the water disruption in Sandakan.  

However, they continue to use ceramic plates to serve food, as paper or polystyrene plates are not suitable for hot dishes.  

Although water supply resumed on Thursday, the low pressure has been insufficient to fill the restaurant’s storage tanks.  

“Water has started coming in, but it’s still unstable. So, we need to use it sparingly to ensure our reserve supply can be used for cooking.            

“For the past week, we had to operate only half-day for two consecutive days due to running out of stored water. We hope the supply will fully recover today,” he told Bernama.  

Rosman said they also had to purchase mineral water to keep the restaurant running, using 20 to 30 cartons of 1.5-litre bottles daily.  

Meanwhile, kopitiam worker Mohd Hanif Sahari, 27, said his eatery has stopped using paper cups after water supply began to recover yesterday.  

He said for several days, they had no choice but to serve hot drinks in paper cups, even though some customers were uncomfortable with it.  

“Some customers were unhappy when hot drinks were served in paper cups, but that was the only alternative to keep the shop operating. Many restaurants had to close when the water supply was disrupted,” he said.  

On Thursday, the Sabah Water Department (JANS) announced that the Segaliud Water Treatment Plant resumed operations at a production capacity of 130 million litres per day on Wednesday night after repair works on the 275kV Kolopis-Segaliud transmission line were completed.

-- BERNAMA