MalaysiaGIS.com

Source: The Star

The project started in February and is expected to be completed by September.

About 25 people have been recruited, including experts in mapping, to start sourcing for whatever maps are available at all Perbadanan Urus Air Selangor Bhd (PUAS) district offices.

In areas without any piping map or plan, field tracking or scanning will be carried out to trace the underground pipes. There are 13,500km of pipes in Selangor and the Federal Territory, of which 6,000km are old pipes that need to be replaced.

Syabas executive chairman Tan Sri Rozali Ismail said the scanning and archiving of drawings and maps of pipe networks was important for easy reference through a centralised system.

"This will help in quick search for information on pipe distribution and water reticulation system and for the use in operations and maintenance, planning and other purposes," he said.

As there is no computerised mapping on the pipe distribution and reticulation system, information can only be obtained by going through thousands of hardcopy drawings at PUAS headquarters and district offices. Furthermore, the quality of hardcopies would have deteriorated over time.

There are about 38,000 plans, of which 15,000 have been scanned. Scanning is completed for Kuala Lumpur and Petaling districts, while maps for Klang and Hulu Langat are being scanned.

"We do not have 40% to 50% of the maps so it is impossible for us to start work immediately to replace the pipes.

"The second hurdle is to look for Selangor and the Federal Territory base maps.

"Telekom Malaysia has up-to-date base maps of Selangor and the Federal Territory, and we are negotiating with the company to use those maps," Rozali added.

The base map shows existing infrastructure, houses and buildings, and is a vital reference to trace pipes which have been buried for years.

Rozali said records showed most complaints received through the Customer Service Centre (Puspel) were about dirty water, broken pipes and low-water pressure.

"Without correct information on the pipes' locations, it is impossible to decide which pipe to replace," he said.

He said repairs would be carried out in areas with critical piping and water complaints, as soon as their maps had been scanned and compiled.