Imagine forgetting to turn your tap off after you use it, and leaving it like that overnight. The water bill you will receive by the end of the month would scare you. You would definitely want to avoid this, because every drop of that water is your money. There is actually a very similar situation, just on a much larger scales, that people somehow do not really take notice of. It is the problem of non-revenue water (NRW).

What is NRW? NRW is the water which is lost between the water distributor and the consumer. Somewhere along the way to your house, that precious, treated water is lost either through leaking or burst pipes, malfunctioning water meters or even water theft. Of course, an average consumer will not feel any effects of this NRW directly. The cost of this lost water is to be borne by the water operators.

However when you really think about it, does this NRW not affect us at all? When NRW is high, water operators start making losses, and it should be quite clear how a company that continuously makes losses will turn out. The water operator will face problems covering their operational costs and be forced to use old, inefficient equipment. All this will then translate to poor services and water quality for the consumers.

However, the problem does not just end there. As the water industry is clearly a capital intensive one, our water operators will need huge sums of money just in order to keep the facilities in an acceptable, working condition. If such a huge sum of the company’s money is lost on NRW, then the rest will barely cover the high operating expenditures.

In fact, in some states, the water operators are actually losing money doing business. After these debts accumulate to a high amount, the water operator will face bankruptcy issues. Since the government cannot allow such an important service to be shut down, they would then have no choice but to bail them out.

Billions were spent because of this, and where does the money to do this come from? Yes, tax payers, in other words, you. So it would be both ignorant and irresponsible to say that NRW does not concern the average consumer.

You may think, why would a little leak or some petty water theft affect the revenue of a water operator so much? Indeed, a slightly leaking tap in your house will only cost you a little, but did you know the average NRW in Malaysia is 36.6 percent in 2013? That is nearly half of the total produced amount, is that “just a little”?

This problem is much more serious than many of us realise, and I feel that more Malaysians need to be aware of this problem. Our NRW is considered very high when compared to countries such as Singapore (5 percent) or Japan (7 percent).

How much do we lose from this NRW problem then? In 2013, the amount of NRW is 5,694 million litres per day. If we multiply this with the average domestic water tariff (which is cheaper), we will get a total of RM 3.55 million.

RM1.295bil wasted in 2013

Small amount? Remember that there are 365 days every year, so by doing the math, we get RM1,295.48 million wasted just in 2013. How many beneficial projects could we have done with that much money? How many old water pipes could be replaced with that kind of money?

Let us not forget that Malaysia has one of the cheapest water rates in the world. If the same amount were to be wasted in Singapore, it would roughly cost S$2670.63 million, which is equivalent to about RM7,130.25 million every year.

While it is known that some water operators are putting a lot of attention on the NRW problem, the national average is still too high to be at ease. This is especially true for those states with NRW percentage of over 50 percent, but efforts from all the other states are also required.

There is still a lot of room for improvement regarding this NRW problem, so it can be a viable method to reduce water usage, not to mention it will definitely be a more welcomed alternative to cover cost when compared to a tariff increase. Consumers on the other hand can help by reporting any sights or suspected cases of water leakages, water theft, burst pipes or any other sources of NRW.

This problem simply does not seem like a big deal because there is so little attention put on it. However, with the forecasted growing water usage, and the UN’s projected water scarcity by 2025, the issue will become much more serious than you think.

Since solving NRW problems involve fixing and replacing pipes, we cannot expect it to be solved in one or two years. We have over 138,669 kilometers of pipes in Malaysia, and 10 years until the projected water scarcity. Do you think we have enough time to fix this?

How would you feel if we start running out of water one day, and everyone we see starts competing for one extra drop of water. We then start great effort to conserve water, with the water prices rising to level we have never seen before. Then, in this situation, you find out over 30 percent of that precious water leaks out to the ground along the way to your house. Picture it, and ask yourself once again if the NRW problem requires more attention that it is getting.

The people must start to be more aware, understanding, cooperative, and even push for any efforts to solve this problem. It will be too late to start after we face any water scarcity problems, so we must gather our voices and start pushing for NRW solutions now!

NAH KOK WAI is research and policy executive, Forum Air Malaysia.