Never mind the finger-pointing, for end-consumers there is one thing that matters: Will there be water when I turn on the taps tomorrow?

Federal minister in charge of water Peter Chin says there will be, but not for long. In fact, he said residents of Selangor are seeing the first signs of a water shortage this year.

Basing his facts on an Economic Planning Unit-commissioned National Water Resources Study (NRWS), Selangor will see a water crisis by 2014.

According to the study commissioned in 2000, demand for treated water in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya will grow between 2 and 3.5 percent annually. This will mean that demand will outstrip supply by about 476 million liters per day in 2014.

But critics like civil society group Coalition for Sustainable Water Management (CSWM) in a 2009 report said that the figures are “inflated” to justify the RM8.9 billion Langat 2 project. This includes a water treatment plant and a 45 kilometre tunnel to channel water from Pahang to Selangor.

According to the National Water Commission (Span), water consumption for the year 2010 was 239 litres per capita per day while consumption dropped slightly to 230 litres per capita per day in 2011.

This is a far cry than the gloom and doom picture painted in the NRWS which projected that demand for 2010 could be as high as 560 to 1224 liters per capita day. That is more than double of what actually took place.

So does this mean the Langat 2 is not needed? The answer is not so simple.

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