Two reports in the media this week confirmed the new Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water delivered two blows to sustainable development: Tenaga Nasional's feasibility study for Malaysia's first nuclear plant and the tunnel construction for the Pahang-Selangor water transfer project.

Civil society will soon be mobilised to thwart any scheme to site a nuclear plant on Malaysian soil. The Pahang-Selangor raw water transfer project expected to cost an astronomical RM9 billion would also inflict high social and environmental costs. Once again, the Orang Asli are going to be dislodged from their traditional lands and way of life. An area of 4,000 hectares of mostly forest, rich with tropical biodiversity, will be cleared to make way for a reservoir. Stakeholders' concerns have not been addressed as required by Malaysia's Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) regulation.

This project to supply more water to Selangor is unnecessary because there are less costly options available. The most sustainable solution with respect to our rapidly deteriorating water resources is to apply water conservation and water demand management measures. Malaysia remains a laggard in adopting these measures as compared to its peers.

If Selangor's non-revenue water (NRW) is brought down to 15 percent by 2020 (36.6 percent in 2006), another 815 million litres per day (MLD) becomes available. While this may seem impossible to some, we may draw a lesson from the city of Phnom Penh whose NRW was 72 percent in 1993, and by 2006, its NRW was reduced to a mere 8 percent.

Household domestic consumption here is about 230 litres per person per day (LPD). It is 160 LPD in Singapore, 150 LPD in the UK and 120 LPD in Denmark. If Selangor can bring household consumption to the Singapore level by 2020 (when Selangor's population is expected to be 8.85 million), this will save 620 million litres per day.

Some say it is hard to make people here save water but following my briefing to a friend about water and the vested interests behind it, he got his household consumption lowered from 250 LPD to 160 LPD within three months.

There is also more scope for the non-domestic sector to conserve water. Together, savings in non-revenue water, domestic and non-domestic consumption can create a surplus (to satisfy population and economic growth) that is as much as what Pahang will supply to Selangor through this project. The only difference is RM9 billion of taxpayers' money will be saved (and some will, hopefully, go to those that are little less rich).

Mark 6/1 as a black day for Malaysia.