Sabah Water Resources — Rivers, Dams & Water Supply

Major river systems

Sabah’s landscape is drained by a network of rivers running off the central ranges to the South China Sea in the west and the Sulu and Celebes Seas in the east. These rivers are more than waterways — they are wildlife corridors, transport routes, hydro-power sources, and the basis of the state’s water supply.

The Kinabatangan Basin

The Kinabatangan is Sabah’s defining river. Its lower floodplain — a maze of oxbow lakes, riverine forest, freshwater swamp and mangroves — supports one of the densest concentrations of wildlife in Southeast Asia. The Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, gazetted at 28,000 hectares in 1999, has been put forward as a candidate UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Nearby, the limestone caves at Gomantong are famous for their swiftlet nests and bat colonies.

That same floodplain is vulnerable. The 2000 flood caused an estimated RM45 million in palm oil losses across roughly 15,000 hectares of plantations — a reminder that managing the basin means balancing agriculture, conservation, and flood risk.

Dams and hydroelectric power

Sabah’s main hydroelectric facility is the Tenom Pangi Dam on the Padas River, about 120 km south of Kota Kinabalu. The Padas is a double act: it generates power and is also the state’s premier white-water rafting river. Beyond Tenom Pangi, the state has deliberately limited large new dam development, prioritising water security and irrigation instead. Protecting the Crocker Range watershed — the primary water source for Kota Kinabalu — is the cornerstone of that approach.

How water is managed

The legal framework is the Sabah Water Resources Enactment, passed in August 1998 to govern how the state’s water is planned, allocated and protected. Two agencies carry it out:

• Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) Sabah — planning, water allocation, river-basin protection, and flood mitigation (did.sabah.gov.my).
• Lembaga Air Negeri Sabah (LANS) — the Sabah Water Authority, responsible for potable water supply, billing, and rural water construction.

The overarching policy theme is water security: protect the catchments that supply the cities, manage flood risk on the big floodplains, and extend reliable piped water into rural districts.

Frequently asked questions