Kuala Muda District - BAKAS

Kuala Muda DHO Posting
Second Day (6th July 2009)

First Session
Venue : Meeting Room (Inspectorate & Environmental Health Unit)
Time : 9.00 am
Topic : Briefing on BAKAS
Person in charge : PPKP Kamaruddin (Head of BAKAS Kuala Muda)

Briefing’s overview:

Health Engineering Unit (State Health Department)
- BAKAS
- KMAM (Drinking Water Quality Control)
- Clinical Waste Disposal Programme
- Environmental Health Protection Programme

Bakas Kuala Muda is headed by Penolong Pegawai Kesihatan Persekitaran (PPKP) Kamaruddin Ismail. He has 7 Penolong Kesihatan Am (PKA) working under him distributed across the district:
- 1 PKA in Bukit Selambau
- 1 PKA in KKM
- 3 PKAs in DHO Kuala Muda
- 1 PKA in Merbok
- 1 PKA in Bedong

General Objective of BAKAS Kuala Muda
- To increase the level of health of the community living in the rural area through good sanitation

Special Objective of BAKAS Kuala Muda
- To reduce communicable and helminth-borne disease
- To get maximum community participation in maintaining good sanitation
- To increase community’s knowledge on sanitation through health promotion programmes
- To ensure good latrines building and usage
- To ensure clean water supply to the community
- To ensure all households enjoy good garbage disposal
- To ensure all households enjoy good sewage disposal

Origin of BAKAS was dated back in 1974. BAKAS main role at that time was involved in water sanitation and sewage disposal due to the increase outbreak of cholera and typhoid due to poor sanitation in certain areas. The officers were in charge in educating the public of proper usage of toilets as well as handling of domestic wastes. In the present where toilet usage and water sanitation no more pose a major problem, their role changes towards maintenance of the sanitation water system and supplying water pipelines to rural areas.

Various methods practiced by the unit for safe water system:
- Controlled Water Well (Telaga Air Terkawal)
- Gravity Feed System (GFS)
- Rain Water Collecting System (Tadahan Air Hujan)
- Pipe connection of KKM – JBA (Jabatan Bekalan Air).

Nowadays, most water supply system uses the method with the collaboration between the Ministry of Health and Jabatan Bekalan Air. However, certain areas such as Pendang and Baling area still use GFS where a main reservoir is located uphill supplying the surrounding area through polypipes. He also explained the most recent project in Kedah which uses this method was dated back in 1999 in Kg. Batas Ubi.

Before GFS is started, a survey has to be done to find the number of households in need of water supply. Then the amount of water consumption has to be estimated (about 30 gallon of water per person per day). This is important when it comes to estimating the size of ‘reservoir’ to make sure adequate water supply is in place. Flow of water through the polypipes is also estimated to ensure the time needed for the water to get to the storage tank downhill.

Currently, there is no Rain Water Collecting System practiced in Kuala Muda district. In the past, rain water was collected through a customized gutter construction on the roof of the house. The rain water was then channelled through a PVC water pipe (with an incorporated filter system) to a collecting structure (concrete rings with concrete flooring) where the water was stored for usage.

In the areas where construction of water well was deemed suitable, the engineering unit from the state health department in Alor Setar will be contacted. This engineering unit is equipped with heavy duty equipments to drill through the ground to find water source to construct water well.

The simplest way of making water safe for drinking is by boiling but some people find boiled water unpalatable and so disinfection of well water by use of chloride of lime has still to be done. The amount of chloride of lime to be used for disinfecting a well depends on:
- the volume of water in the well
- the degree of contamination of the water in the well

Wells which have been affected by floods are grossly polluted and heavy initial dose of chloride of lime are therefore required. When such doses are applied it is recommended that the water in the well be thoroughly mixed with the chloride of lime and allowed to stand for few hours before use. As a rough guide, the initial doses recommended are as follows:
- clean water, few minerals (chlorine dose: 5 parts per million)
- cloudy water (10 ppm)
- muddy water (12 ppm)

There is a chart available (Chart for Chlorination of Wells) for easy application on the field to find out the amount of chloride of lime needed to disinfect a well; three factors are necessary to be known:
- diameter of well in feet
- depth of well in feet
- dosage required (i.e. parts per million)

Methods of sewage system and waste disposal:
- Sistem Perlupusan Air Perlimbahan (SPAL) / Domestic Sewage Disposal
o uses underground sewage disposal where concrete rings are placed five feet underground
o domestic waste water is channeled thru PVC pipelines
- Sistem Perlupusan Sisa Pepejal (SPSP) / Garbage Disposal
o Handled by Majlis Perbandaran where solid wastes are collected in a large area, and controlled incineration takes place

Subsidies are allocated for people who fulfil the requirements to requests financial aid for their water supply system which include:
- Water pipes connection
- Domestic sewage disposal
- Garbage disposal
- Latrines

The categories of applicants who are eligible to receive the aid include:
- PPRT (Program Pembangunan Rakyat Termiskin / The very poor)
- Single mother
- OKU (Orang Kurang Upaya / Disabled people)
- Warge Emas (Elderly)

Applicant has to fill in an application form and submit it to the BAKAS unit for consideration. Staff from BAKAS unit will then visit the applicant house to evaluate their needs and eligibility towards the aid. Once approved, orders of the materials will be made and a second visit will be done once construction is ready to commence. After completion, BAKAS will do a monthly evaluation on the infrastructure. This year’s allocation for the Kuala Muda District for this aid amounts to RM 157,250.00. The breakdowns are as follows:

- Water pipes connection : RM 45,000.00
- Proper latrines : RM 36,000.00
- Garbage disposal : RM 21,250.00
- Domestic sewage disposal : RM 55,000.00

Water sampling is no longer done by BAKAS per se, but its role has been taken over by KMAM (Kawalan Mutu Air Minuman/Drinking Water Quality Control). However, twice yearly BAKAS does take the initiative to sample waters in water wells built by them to check for possible contamination. Indicators of water quality include presence of E. coli, pH as well as the turbidity of the water. In DHO of Kuala Muda, because of the reduced role in water sampling, this unit shares the water sampling equipment with the KMAM (i.e. Spectrophotometer DR 2000).

* Water sampling will be discussed in detailed after the attachment with the KMAM (Drinking Water Quality Control Unit).