In the latest development of the water crisis in peninsula Malaysia, particularly in Selangor, we are informed that the government is looking at the extension of water rationing for another three months.
The major problem is that while the consumers are busy reducing their water consumption, what are the authorities and water operators doing?
Not only is the water rationing is not proceeding according to the planned schedule, there are also pipes bursting here and there, causing more hardship for the consumers. We had been told three years ago by the authorities and also water operators that we are going to a major star crisis like the present one, but what have they done?
There was a lot of hoo-ha during the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the federal and Selangor state government. However, as time goes by, we feel like we are being taken for a ride as until now there is still no concrete solution to the present problem.
Another major concern is that our national average non-revenue water (NRW) rate is at 36.4% (2012). In laymen’s term, it means that when 100 litres of treated water is produced, we are losing 36.7 litres of these precious treated water.
In comparison, our country’s capital Kuala Lumpur’s NRW rate is at 35% (2011) while Singapore’s NRW rate is at 5%. To add to this, Shanghai’s NRW rate is at 17% while the rate in Hong Kong is at 25%. And finally taking London into consideration, its NRW rate is at 28%.
According to the Malaysia Water Industry Guide, from the year 2007 to 2011 our national average NRW rate were at 37.1% (2007), 37.00% (2008), 36.63% (2009), 36.37% (2010) , 36.70% (2011) and 36.40% (2012) respectively. This data is an indication that we have not been able to improve our NRW rate by 1% during the said six years.
The authorities ha issued statements such as, “Yes the rain is falling but it is not falling at the right areas thus the dams are not being recharged.” This kind of problem should have been rectified since the first day when the prediction of a water crisis first came out in 2010. For the past years, what have the authorities done to ensure that all the rainwater runoff at the downstream is collected and fed to the reservoirs or dams?
The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) has published a statement saying that the companies need to pay up to RM150,000 a day for water supply and might lose up to RM15 million if they could not get the supply. So who is going to pay for the losses? Consumers? The government?
Almost 90% of our drinking water supply comes from rivers and we still can see news reports almost weekly on how polluted our rivers are. One of the good examples is that the Bukit Tampoi and Cheras 11th Mile water treatment plants have to be shut down due to ammonia pollution. Where is the enforcement? Where is the permanent gazzetting of the water catchment areas?
While we are being told that water rationing is a good measure to mitigate the water level at the dam from reaching the critical level, it has taken its toll on all consumers. It is very frustrating and makes us feel helpless to see that while we are suffering, the federal and state governments and water operators are still taking their own sweet time in the implementation of water restructuring.
The current problem has to be solved with the implementation of a strategic short-term plan as soon as possible as well as a long-term action plan; and policies need to be drafted in order to ensure water sustainability in our country.
FOON WENG LIAN is secretary-general, Water and Energy Consumers Association of Malaysia (Wecam).
