THE panic we observe during the annual dry season has its reason. Malfunction of the responsible agencies has deteriorated the public’s confidence to face the annual dry season.

The east coast floods at the end of last year was not as severe as expected. This hints to a possible El Nino or El Nino-like condition being imminent.

In 2014, there was a glimpse of a minor water crisis to Malaysians in the Klang Valley. A fully formed El Nino or situation where El Nino is trying form will still give an El- Nino-like impact.

Droughts or prolonged periods without rain are part our climate that causes low levels in our dams and rivers, which lead to water shortages.

Since early civilisations, humans have learnt to adapt by constructing dams, huge lake reservoirs and irrigation systems.

Department of Statistics show that in 2017 75.5% of our population live in urban areas and 24.5% are in rural areas. This demographic split is a major phenomenon throughout the world.

Water resources are usually far away from urban demand zones with high population density. The reduction of forest cover makes the dry season unbearable. Fortunately, advances in technology and better demand  management allowa us to meet the increasing demand for water. It begins with protection of our water catchment areas.

Water catchment

These are areas where we are able to collect raw water from rain. Increase in population and economic activities will lead to increased demand for water (raw water and treated water). Based on 2017 data, Malaysia extracts 18.375 billion litres of raw water per day for treated water supply alone.

This does not include raw water used by industries and agriculture. Loss of forest cover decreases availability of good quality raw water. Raw water supply risks starts here. We are noticing continuous “raping” of forest for logging and development throughout Malaysia. 

Malaysia needs a centralised water management power where raw water, treatment and supply, as well as wastewater discharge, must be placed under the federal government and report directly to Parliament. In a national level survey conducted by AWER (using Department of Statistic’s sampling methodology), 72.86% of Malaysian supported AWER’s suggestion to remove state governments’ power to water resources and place it directly under Parliament (not federal ministry) if state governments fail to protect water catchment areas. The government must increase effort to develop upstream, midstream and downstream water resources. Development of water resources in the midstream and downstream zones will reduce raw water stress.

Groundwater and peat fire

Groundwater recharge in tropical rainforest climate is via rainfall. With loss of forest cover, the recharge to groundwater also reduces dramatically. This poses dangers to peat soil. Drier peat soil can easily catch fire and causes haze. There have been proposals to increase groundwater extraction to substitute for the lack of fresh water due to failure of surface water management. Small extractions in a large number of wells or tube wells and single large extraction projects will pose immediate risks to the water table (level of groundwater in the soil). Drop in water table in return will increase peat fires probability and frequency. Are we ready for this vicious cycle due to failure of the government agencies in managing water resources?

Non-revenue water (NRW)

The NRW level has been the same for the past few decades. Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Air Negara (SPAN) set a target of 25% NRW by 2020 in the country due to pressure from AWER. Even if SPAN officials stand upside down, they cannot reach this target by the end of next year. The latest data show that NRW in 2016 is 35.2% and increased to 35.3% in 2017. This shows that only about 64.7% of treated water reaches consumers and brings revenue to water service companies. AWER had presented solutions to reduce NRW systematically and cost-effectively many years ago to the relevant agencies, but unfortunately, the adopted solutions were abandoned and NRW is still high.

Water efficiency

The government must implement mandatory water efficiency labelling and minimum water efficiency standards (MWES) to achieve “static water efficiency”. Via these mechanisms, the government will enable consumers to be water efficient by purchasing faucets that reduce water use but still deliver desired output. For example, a water-efficient tap will reduce water use between 20% and 50% by introducing bubbles that increases the efficiency speed of soap. MWES is similar to the minimum energy performance standard (MEPS) which AWER successfully pushed the Energy Commission to implement in 2014. Products which do not meet MEPS requirements will not be allowed to be sold in Malaysia. Similarly, via MWES, we can implement similar restriction to prevent Malaysians from buying products that waste water

Pollution reversal

Carrying capacities of our rivers are limited. During dry flow (water flow during dry season), the carrying capacity is reduced and rivers become more susceptible to pollution. Due to increase in population and economic activity density as well as loss of forest cover, pollution loading in our rivers has increased in the past few decades. Effective wastewater discharge standard based on pollution loading will be able to assist in pollution reduction. By implementing this periodically, we will be able to increase the quality of raw water and making more rivers available as raw water for drinking purposes. A successful implementation will be able to show positive results between five and 10 years.

Malfunctioning management

The factor that imposes the highest risk to water security is the malfunction of government agencies in charge of water. Officials (water and environment) along with SPAN and state water bodies failed to plan and manage water resources and usage effectively. This failure increases risk of water rationing, treatment plant shutdown as well as pollution incidents. This is not act of God. This is simply “Failure to plan is planning to fail” scenario. So far, nothing much has changed for the last decade. Is the federal government serious about managing water? If yes, start engaging stakeholders through real consultation process and implement the changes. Please also, flush the little Napoleons that are actually causing water crisis and water stress in Malaysia. – March 25, 2019

* Piarapakaran S. is president of the Association of Water and Energy Research Malaysia. He reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.