Pulau Omadal is home to a Bajau community of around 1500 individuals. However, there is currently neither reliable water supply nor any form of waste management. Residents collect rainwater when possible and supplement this with water bought from Pulau Bum-Bum or Semporna whenever they can afford to. Consequently, the island and surrounding sea area are strewn with rubbish, of which empty water bottles are a significant proportion. This project has two main goals: i) to enhance water access by increasing rainwater harvesting and filtration treatment capacity, and ii) establish a community-run water enterprise that will be able to buy water at cheaper rates as well as remove rubbish from the island. These twin goals are necessary because it is impossible for rainwater harvesting alone to meet the needs of the population, particularly during the dry season.

The project will be undertaken on Pulau Omadal, incorporating both its citizen community in Omadal Utara, Tengah, and Hujung, as well as its stateless community off the coast that extends from Omadal Hujung. In total, there are approximately 180 households on Omadal (30 citizen, 150 stateless), all of whom live on the northwestern tip of the island.

There is a lack of safe drinking water on Pulau Omadal. Where possible, residents harvest rainwater but this is insufficient, resulting in many households buying water from Pulau Bum-Bum and/or Semporna. At times, piped water is bought and transported in 20L jerrycans; however, bottles of drinking water (both 1.5L and 500ml) are also frequently purchased by the carton. In addition, there is no waste management system on the island, with trash disposed of into the open environment. Although there are diverse sources of waste, by far the most prevalent in quantity and persistent in nature are the discarded single-use plastic bottles.
The waste on the island is a clear environmental hazard to all inhabitants of the island and its surrounding sea. Every high tide sees waste openly floating around; every episode of rain and/or wind blows it around and into the sea. Ultimately, the waste is either on the shore, on the sandy bottom, or out in the open sea. Not only is this a concern to human health, it also can have impacts on the turtle and general marine population in and around the island. Women of Pulau Omadal (WAPO), a social enterprise on the island, have a group dedicated to the protection of its turtles and their eggs. Its members report concerns about the impact of the trash on the turtles. The waste is also likely to impact the fish fry, starfish, and urchins who live in the shallows.
Increasing the quantity and quality of freshwater available to the residents of Pulau Omadal will greatly reduce the amount of plastic waste on the island. Given that single use plastic bottles represent a majority of the waste on the island, it is this issue that we are targeting first and foremost

We will reduce the reliance of the residents on Pulau Omadal on single use drinking water bottles in three parts. These are by:
i) increasing their rainwater harvesting capacity,
ii) installing water filtration technologies to make harvested rainwater potable,
iii) launching a community-led water cooperative that will purchase water in bulk in reusable containers on behalf of the community. The cooperative will also be responsible for transporting collected waste out from Pulau Omadal on its outbound trips.

There is a two-pronged problem on Pulau Omadal: insufficient water and lack of waste management. Increasing the rainwater harvesting capacity and water treatment capabilities on the island will reduce the demand for bottled water, in turn reducing the number of bottles (and therefore waste) brought on to the island. However, this alone will not eliminate demand as projected rainfall and the maximum available surface area for rainwater harvesting will not meet the needs of the residents.

Thus, a community-led water cooperative is required to enable the community to meet their water needs in a sustainable manner. By buying water in bulk and in reusable jerrycans, less waste is brought onto the island. In addition, a condition of releasing startup funds to the co-op will be a requirement that they demonstrate the willingness and ability to coordinate waste management and disposal in the community. This will improve the waste situation on the island by also removing waste that is not just from single use plastic water bottles.

This three-pronged approach (increased capacity, treatment capabilities, and a water cooperative) will help protect the landscape and seascape from further pollution. In addition, the cooperative will promote social inclusion by being community-led and operated. A co-op approach is most likely to be sustainable in the long term since the day-to-day operations and costs can be borne by the residents themselves. Current preliminary economic projections for the co-op indicate that residents would be able to purchase the same quantity of water for less than what they currently spend, since piped water filled in jerrycans on Pulau Bum-Bum costs much less than bottled 1.5L or 500ml water, or even some of the rainwater sold by households who may have excess capacity.