KOTA KINABALU, Sept 16 — Sabah has high potential to build coastal reservoirs as an alternative to traditional dams, said former State Water Department director Datuk Dr Amarjit Singh.

He said this considering Malaysia is a tropical Southeast Asian country with a steady annual rainfall and river flow pattern while also possessing an enormous river network which can provide enough supply to build coastal reservoirs, allowing Sabah to make full use of the technology if they are to be built here.

Dr Amarjit, who is also a member of the International Water Association (IWA), said coastal reservoirs use certain technologies to develop river water in the sea near a river mouth, and it is the best method to collect rainwater as unlike a traditional dam that depends on precipitation, all rainwater ends up in the sea.

"Imagine if we can build coastal reservoirs in Kota Kinabalu. The system is there. The Babagon dam can serve as a backup.

"We get a lot of rain or fresh water, and I think we should be storing it instead of just letting it out into the sea.

"Actually, there is a 12 km sq area near the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) which is able to sustain a large amount of water.

"With the concept of incremental innovation, it will allow us to have both water supply storage and flood storage in the proposed coastal reservoir.

"However, I am not sure if there are any planned or current developments in that area as I have not yet proposed this to the government.

"Even then, we have to do a pre-feasibility study which includes data collection and various assessments, among other things.

"I am not saying that coastal reservoirs is the answer but I am asking the State government to understand and provide alternatives to Sabahans,” he said when giving a talk titled ‘The Innovation of Coastal Reservoirs in Sabah’ at the Sabah Society Secretariat in Damai Plaza here yesterday.

It was reliably learnt that Deputy Chief Minister I cum Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Industry Minister Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan has since been informed of Dr Amarjit’s proposal and is also advocating for coastal reservoirs to be built in Sabah.

Other notable figures who have publicly advocated for coastal reservoirs here include former Putatan Member of Parliament (MP) Awang Husaini Sahari, former Penampang MP Datuk Donald Mojuntin, and IWA member Lim Sin Poh.

Coastal reservoirs, according to Dr Amarjit, can provide many benefits to the state as they can act as a barrier to protect coasts from earthquakes and can be developed into freshwater agriculture farms as well as developed for energy and tourism.

He said coastal reservoirs also have potential to transform neglected and polluted coastal areas into sustainable freshwater townships while also providing real estate opportunities and directly or indirectly contributing to the state’s tourism.

"Coastal reservoirs – which is not a new technology and has been adopted by several countries – also cause no harm to river basins and forests, and no alterations on river courses as well as no physical displacements.

"On the other hand, blocking the river’s flow with a dam would lead to soil erosion, a biologically dead river, and upsets the region’s natural equilibrium as well as destroys agriculture and its cultural legacy,” he said.

Dr Amarjit said the construction of large dams has slowed down globally since the 1960s as it is becoming more difficult to build them due to their many negative impacts.

He said some of the impacts include economic, social and environmental problems, citing the recent collapse of a dam in eastern Libya, North Africa which has killed more than 11,000 people.

"I did my own research and found that from 2011 to the 2020s, there is one dam failure almost every year, including structural failures,” he said.

Now, he said there is a paradigm shift in water resources development from storing water in mountainous dams to storing freshwater by the coast.

He said there are many existing coastal reservoirs around the world including Saemangeum and Sihwa in South Korea, Marina Barrage in Singapore, Chenhang in Shanghai, Yu Huan in Zhejiang, Baogang in Shanghai, as well as Plover Clove in Hong Kong.

Dr Amarjit especially noted the Qingcaosha coastal reservoir in Yangtze River, China, which was completed in 2011 and has a capacity of 7,000 mld (million litres per day) and has been supplying to a population of 13 million in Shanghai.

"Look at Qingcaosha’s capacity of 7,000 mld compared to Sabah’s water capacity of 1,300 mld. Imagine if we can store this much water, we can benefit so many generations.

"I am once again asking the government to really consider the proposal for coastal reservoirs in Sabah. Give options to the people of the state and let them decide,” he said.

Dr Amarjit stressed that pre-emptive measures should be taken and a pragmatic solution needs to be found to ensure the sustainability of Sabah’s water supply. — Borneo Post